


Blake, Domesticated

by idelion



Category: RWBY
Genre: ...unless?, Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cat Blake, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Haha me either, Humor, You ever want to date your cat?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-10-17 03:37:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20614346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idelion/pseuds/idelion
Summary: Blake is a cat. An actual, four-legged, meowing and purring cat. Or at least, that's what the animal shelter says when Yang is looking to adopt a companion. Yang isn't as convinced.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First fic, be gentle. Blake isn't a faunus, she's a whole ass cat. For now, at least.
> 
> This will become longer and eventually get all cute and romantic because I like that shit. For now, I just needed to throw some of it into the world. Stay tuned I guess. And no, Yang will not bone a cat.

“You should get a kitty!” Every time they spoke over the phone, Ruby had been insistent that Yang find an animal companion. Despite Yang’s assurance that no, she’s not lonely and yes, she is happy living by herself, her little sister couldn’t help but think her living-far-from-home-for-University experience could only be improved by a four-legged friend. She’d even offered (threatened) to send Zwei through the mail. 

“Rubes, it’s fine. I like living alone, not having to clean up after anyone or anything else.” Lounging back on her two-seater couch, she stretched her legs and plonked her bare feet on the coffee table, wiggling her toes happily. She nestled back against the plush cushions, her bare skin shifting against the bright orange fabric. “Plus, nobody can tell me to put on clothes! I like having my own space.” 

“Your own space? Your apartment is a shoebox! There is no space!”

“All the less reason to get a pet. It’d be all cramped up in here.” 

“A kitten doesn’t need much space, though! And just think of all the kitties out there who don’t have homes, Yang!” Oh no. Not the sads. Once Ruby started on the sads, Yang’s willpower could only hold up for so long. “The poor shelter kitties. Sleeping on cold hard floors every night, no warm houses to keep them safe. What if it’s cold and rainy, Yang?” Yang vividly imagined the puppy dog eyes Ruby was sporting throughout all of this. Such power was near impossible to resist. “No humans to give them cuddles and love. No pets for their soft fur. They must be so sad, being all alon-”

“Alright alright, I’ll think about it. But this doesn’t mean yes.” 

“Yay!”

The more Yang thought about it, the more having a cat around seemed like a not terrible idea. She had enough spare cash to handle food and vet expenses, plus her queen-sized bed was awfully big with just her in it. She would keep it inside, but she had a small balcony she could workshop into an outdoor enclosure if it got antsy staying inside all day. Plus, she’d always kind of wanted one of those cat backpacks. Maybe she could even find a little helmet and take it for a ride in Bumblebee’s sidecar. 

Yang found herself wandering a few blocks from an animal shelter a few days after her latest call with Ruby. She hadn’t been able to get cats off her mind. It seemed like every day since then she’d seen a cat in a window or on the street. She even saw someone in the park walking a cat on a leash which definitely interested her.

She stopped at an intersection, hitting the button and waiting to cross. Looking to her right, she knew if she walked down this street she’d get to the shelter. The crossing light turned green, but she didn’t cross.  
_…maybe just a look._

“Take your time, most of the cats are happy to have new friends to play with.” The shelter staff lady led her through a few doors and a hallway, reaching a long corridor lined with cages. “Let me know if I can help with anything. I’ll just be at reception.” Yang thanked the woman, who headed back the way they’d came. The meowing had been audible from the hallway, but it was quite loud in here. 

_They’re all asking you to take them home_, Yang could hear Ruby’s voice in her mind. If it were up to Ruby, she’d take them all. One was enough to start at least. 

Yang started to stroll down the corridor. She had permission to open whichever cages she liked, but only one at a time. She looked in at the cats. Most of them seemed pretty neutral about being in a shelter. Some were cramped as far into a back corner as physically possible, others came right up to the doors and sniffed at Yang’s outstretched hand. She read the names as she went. Buster, Garfield, Muffin, Socks, Dexter. Pretty standard cat names for the most part. Occasionally one would get a giggle out of her, like Commander Fluffinstuff. She’d have to tell Ruby about that one. She stopped at one name which caught her attention. 

“Blake.” She said aloud. “What a normal human name you have.” She looked up to see the cat behind the name. A silhouette of deep, dark black fur, the kind that would be completely invisible out of direct light, sat upright in the centre of the cage. Paws side by side, ears up, tail flicking lazily. Most striking of all were the brilliant gold eyes looking back at Yang, unblinking and almost analytical, staring right through her. An intelligence lies behind those eyes, Yang thought, getting a weirdly intense vibe from this cat. She found it hard to hold its gaze. It was like having a staring match with a person, and she was losing. _What is this cat’s deal?_

Yang finally looked away. When she looked back up, she could swear the cat was smirking at her, if that were possible. 

Feeling kind of embarrassed about somehow being dunked on by a cat, she looked at the information sheet attached to the outside of the cage. 

Name: Blake  
Sex: Female  
Age: Unknown (Est 2-3)  
Temperament: Would best suit a home with no other cats. Likes her own space. 

_Relatable_, Yang thought. 

Yang tried extending her hand to the door of the cage, a peace offering. Blake stared at the hand, seemingly offended by its presence. As Yang was about to take it back, Blake rolled her eyes – wait, did Yang see that right? – and approached the hand. Even though she only moved a few tiny steps, there was an elegance to the way this cat moved that enchanted Yang. Blake hesitated before giving the hand a sniff and looking up at Yang. The look seemed to hold emotion. It was like Blake was trying to say something to her. 

“What _are_ you?” Yang asked the cat. At this point she wouldn’t be surprised if the cat replied in English. 

Blake mewled back. The sweetest, tiniest, most heart-wrenching sound Yang had ever heard. She felt her eyes well up. She was confused as hell by this cat, but that just sealed the deal. Blake had to be hers. 

“This is your new home!” Yang set the box down and opened the lid. Blake glared directly back at her, seemingly mortified by the experience of being purchased, shoved in a cardboard box, and taken to some stranger’s house. It took some gentle convincing met with death stares, but Blake soon jumped from the box and had a look around. She slunk around the small apartment, checking out things low to the ground and jumping onto the kitchen bench more than once. Yang had decided she didn’t want to encourage the cat being allowed on the bench and had set her back down, but Blake kept doing it. The way the cat stared back at her when she said no made Yang think Blake knew exactly what Yang was saying but made a conscious choice to do what she wanted anyway. _This damned cat…_

Soon enough Blake checked out the bedroom. She made herself right at home on Yang’s side of the bed, curling up with her head against Yang’s pillow. “Hey that’s where I-” Yang cut herself off when she saw that Blake had closed her eyes and seemed to be drifting off to sleep. “…ah, whatever.” She muttered, heading back out to sit on the couch. She grabbed her phone. She thought she better tell Ruby all about her new housemate. 

A few days of living with Blake the cat had revealed a few things to Yang. 

Firstly, despite never having owned a cat before, Yang was fairly certain that cats couldn’t read. However more than once Yang had come home to see several books knocked from her bookshelf and Blake sitting suspiciously close by them, looking at the pages. She seemed to have a preference for romance and erotic literature, particularly a piece called _Ninjas of Love_, which a flustered Yang quickly picked up and put on a higher shelf. Upon questioning, Blake either said nothing or prowled away. 

Secondly, Yang pretty quickly realised that Blake straight up would not eat cat food. After seeing her refuse the food on day one, Yang had spent the evening heading out and purchasing increasingly expensive and niche cat food varieties, desperate to find something she would eat. She even bought raw steak, but Blake wasn’t having any of it. Yang came to the conclusion, after coming home the next day to her previously unopened loaf of bread torn open, spread across the floor and half-eaten that Blake wanted human food. Blake was then given a place at the dinner table. Well, coffee table and couch, where Yang ate. Blake had happily accepted. 

Finally, this cat had the strangest hygiene habits. Yang thought cats were like dogs and would lick themselves to clean. At least, that’s what the internet said. The internet didn’t have much wisdom to offer when Yang searched “why does my cat insist on getting in the shower with me instead of licking itself” though. Too many words, maybe. She’d also never had to clean the litter tray because Blake had never used it. It was day four when Yang walked in on Blake using the human toilet. Blake hissed and spat at her until she left, and Yang even heard a flush when she was done. 

Yang looked at her internet search history, which would surely raise many questions to any who read it out of context. _Can cats read? Cat in shower. Cat using human toilet. Cat won’t eat cat food. Can cats eat instant ramen? Is my cat mocking me? Is my cat possessed by the devil? _

A few articles, videos, and memes revealed that sometimes cats did strange things, with a loving shrug and the reasoning that it’s a cat often being enough to explain away the weirdness. But this, everything Blake was doing, was too weird. Blake couldn’t possibly be the amalgamation of every weird cat trait the internet had ever seen rolled into one. It’d be just Yang’s luck to wind up with the strangest cat in existence, but it seemed too weird to be true. She just didn’t have any other explanation than to believe her new cat was a full-blown weirdo, as boring as that explanation was. 

Yang locked her phone and put it on the coffee table with a sigh. She looked over at Blake, who was sitting on the windowsill watching the world outside. _I’ll never know what’s going on inside that furry little head of yours, will I? _

Yang turned and lifted her legs up onto the couch, scooching down so she was lying somewhat flat. She closed her eyes, running through various Blake-based conspiracy theories she’d thought of.  
The shelter didn’t know her past - she’d been picked up by a random citizen and taken to the shelter. She wasn’t chipped or anything, and nobody owned up to being her owner. She’d only been in the shelter a couple of days before Yang took her home. That left a lot of room for speculation. 

Yang’s leading theory was that Blake was actually a robot cat with super intelligent A.I. technology. That theory was missing a motive though. Spying, perhaps? But why leave it at a shelter? 

Next was Blake was an alien in the body of a cat sent to learn the ways of humanity before invading the earth. She liked this one. 

Finally, the theory that Blake was a human in the body of a cat. She did seem to act like a human pretty often, so that had some grounds to it. It was still impossible though, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about having another human around this whole time and not knowing about it. This cat had seen her naked after all, which would probably be an awkward conversation in the event that cat Blake ever reverted back to human Blake form. 

Her thoughts were disrupted by a set of paws suddenly digging themselves into Yang’s stomach. Her eyes flew open – Blake had wandered over and was now making herself at home on top of Yang. The cat was moving her paws around, seeming to be testing something. The paws kneaded her stomach, and it felt oddly soothing. Blake’s eyes started drifting closed as she pushed her paws against Yang. Very gradually, over the course of a few kneads, the claws started to come out. 

“Hey. Hey, no, you quit that right now.” Yang lifted the paws, wiggling them between her fingers. Blake looked incredibly offended that Yang had _dared_ to touch the paws, snatching them away quickly. “No claws.” Yang pointed a finger at Blake, intending to look authoritative. Instead, she soon looked a fool as Blake sized up the finger, titled her head, and bit into it with her little needle teeth. Yang yelped and her body flinched, sending Blake off the side of the couch. There was a _thud_ as Blake’s body hit the coffee table. Yang panicked for a moment before seeing that Blake seemed to be fine. The cat looked up at her, expression blank. 

Yang sighed. “I’m sorry I knocked you off, but you did claw and bite me.” Blake stared back. “C’mon, don’t look at me like that.” Nothing. “Why don’t you come back up here. Don’t claw me, and maybe I’ll give you a scratch behind the ear, if you’d like that.” Blake narrowed her eyes, like she was contemplating the offer. Yang tapped her hands against her stomach invitingly. After a moment the cat sprang up onto Yang’s stomach again, kneading (without claws) for a minute before lying down longways, stomach pressed against Yang’s and head on Yang’s chest. Yang slowly ran a hand down the cat’s back, scratching briefly at the base of her tail. Blake’s eyes closed and her chest began to rumble softly – she was purring! 

Yang found the sound extremely calming. Bringing her hand up to behind Blake’s ears, she realised she’d spent more time being utterly perplexed by Blake than actually hanging out or doing cool pet stuff. Blake’s fur was incredibly soft, like millions of fibres of silk beneath her fingertips. The sensation was so pleasing, Yang felt calmer than she had in years. She looked down at Blake, who was now dozing off on her chest. _I could get used to this._

Yang barrelled through the door of her apartment the next afternoon, brandishing a shopping bag with glee. Blake, who had dragged _Ninjas of Love_ from the top of the bookshelf, onto the floor, up onto the couch, flipped the cover open and appeared to have almost finished reading the book, glanced up at the intrusion. Yang, past the point of being surprised by this cat, didn’t give it a second thought. “I’ve got presents!” 

She plopped down on the floor beside the couch and began to rummage through the bag. “I thought I’d try taking you outside, so I got a collar, a cat harness, and a leash!” She held them up to the cat who eyed them and seemed to frown. “What, purple not your colour?” A brief thought informed Yang that Blake, who was probably definitely more than just an average cat, would likely feel demeaned by being made to wear all this, particularly in public. 

Yang dismissed it quickly, reaching forward to slip the collar around Blake’s neck. It was a simple purple fabric band with a small silver charm. ‘Blake’ was written across the front, while the back read ‘If lost, return to Yang’ followed by her phone number. “This way you won’t get lost.” Yang told Blake, though the cat was already trying to pull at the collar with her paws. 

While Blake was distracted with that, Yang took the opportunity to slip the cat harness over her head and down her body. The cat froze for a moment before squirming and rolling about, trying desperately to free herself from the contraption. 

“If you’re doing this to escape embarrassment, I thought I’d let you know you look like even more of a dunce trying to get it off.” Yang smirked. Blake stopped writhing, her hind leg somehow trapped between the collar and her neck. She seemed to consider this information and, deciding that Yang might have a point, looked to the human and meowed, trying in vain to tug her leg out of its predicament. Yang chuckled and helped her out. 

Walking through the park with Blake was far from a soothing experience. With the raw sass she’d experienced from the cat so far she’d half expected Blake to be the one chasing the dogs around. Evidently, as Blake had every claw she owned dug deep into Yang’s shoulders, holding on for dear life as a tiny puppy bounced by Yang’s feet, this was not the case. They’d headed home quickly after, Yang apologising along the way as Blake retracted the claws one by one. 

As taking her outside was not a great option, Yang settled for spending time with Blake inside. Blake seemed entirely disinterested in all cat toys besides her laser pointer, which she followed around and tried to stomp on repeatedly. Yang found endless amusement in making Blake jump up the walls trying to catch the elusive red dot. 

She’d seen online that she could play ‘cat bowling’ by setting up a stack of cups next to a cloth and getting the cat to chase the dot and slide into the cups. Blake’s inherent suspicion of Yang’s antics meant the cat refused to chase the red dot when she’d seen the cups set up. Yang settled for pouting and trying to balance the cups in increasingly complex arrangements, which Blake seemed to enjoy spectating and ‘accidentally’ knocking down with her tail every so often.

They settled into a routine soon enough. Yang would come home from class and find Blake doing something inexplicably human. They’d play with the laser pointer for a bit if Blake felt like it, maybe sit back and watch some TV. Yang would cook up one and a half servings of her usual dinner, minus any cat-unfriendly ingredients (she kept a list on the fridge) and eat with Blake. 

After a bit more hanging about they’d head to bed. Initially, Blake slept either exactly where Yang liked to sleep, forcing Yang to sleep elsewhere, or on the empty side if Yang beat her to that spot. After the first night they fell asleep together on the couch Blake would wait for Yang to get settled in before snaking her way between Yang’s arms and mewing expectantly. Yang would smile and scratch her ears, her chin, her back, until the cat’s gentle purrs lulled them both to sleep. 

It wasn’t long until the universe, of course, decided Yang’s life was _too_ nice, _too_ peaceful, and so some more chaos was in order. 

Yang and her cat Blake were chilling as they did, Yang indulging in the calming aura of a purring cat upon her lap after a long day of class. It was cathartic, Yang thought, looking down at her four-legged companion lovingly. She never did figure out why Blake seemed to behave so strangely, though it’d been about a month since she’d picked her up from the shelter and life was treating her so kindly, she didn’t really question it anymore. Blake was just a super special kitty, she guessed. 

Checking the clock, Yang decided to turn in. It was past midnight, and although she wasn’t opposed to staying up late and had nothing to do tomorrow, she just felt like a nice, long sleep.

“Coming, kitty?” She called as she headed toward her bedroom. A short mew and nearly inaudible _tap-tap-taps_ let Yang know that Blake had followed. Yang changed into her sleep shirt and a pair of silk shorts before slipping between the covers, holding the blanket up habitually and letting Blake pounce in and snuggle up. The purring started immediately, both feeling warm and safe in the close company of the other, and Yang rubbed Blake’s favourite spot behind the ears. 

“Goodnight, Blake.” Yang yawned and felt herself slipping into sleep quickly. 

"Goodnight", Yang could’ve sworn she’d heard, but was too far gone into the realm of dreams to know for sure. 

Yang awoke slowly, as she always did, and on her back, which was not unusual. Blake was in her designated position on Yang’s chest, still asleep. Yang’s eyes cracked open, looking down at the black cat on top of her. Blake always looked so calm when she slept. To disturb the peace of a sleeping cat, Yang had learned, was absolutely forbidden. Even something so well-intended as an ear scratch could disturb this peace. Although, Yang mused, the little _mrrp?_ sound Blake made when she was woken up was possibly the cutest sound in the entire world. 

_Gotta pee_, Yang thought to herself, as she calculated how best to extract Blake without disturbing the cat’s sleep. She decided sliding the blanket between them very, very slowly to the side, and lowering it gently onto the bed would have the greatest chance of Yang escaping with the lowest chance of waking up Blake. She ended up with a still-sleeping Blake now beside her instead of on top of her. 

_Nice_, Yang praised herself, sliding carefully out of bed. She was still internally congratulating herself on her sublime stealth skills when she rounded the corner to her en suite and stubbed her big toe on the door frame.

“Mother f-” she hissed, stopping herself when she was reminded of the sleeping Blake. She froze, preparing herself for the _mrrp_ sound which was so cute yet also indicative of her failure. 

“Mmm… five more minutes.” _…what?_ That was no _mrrp_. That was a person’s voice.

Yang spun around on high alert. “Who said that? Who’s there?” All she saw was Blake, still seeming to be asleep but now rolled over slightly on the bed. Nobody else was in the room. 

Yang’s eyes darted from side to side. She tiptoed around her room, then her bathroom, then out into the lounge and kitchen. Nobody else was there. Just her and Blake.

She eyed Blake, still on the bed resting. Nothing seemed amiss about the situation other than the voice she’d heard. Perhaps she’d imagined it. 

Putting thoughts of the voice aside, she went to the bathroom and got in the shower. Maybe she just needed to shower the tiredness away. 

Blake hopped in shortly after Yang started running the water. This wasn’t unusual – the cat who didn’t like to lick herself clean jumped at the opportunity to shower whenever Yang got in. “Good morning, kitty.” Yang bent down to pat the now wet cat’s head. 

“’Morning.” Blake said back sleepily, shaking her head beneath the streams of water. 

Yang just about jumped out of her own skin, babbling nonsensically and waving her arms around trying to grasp what had just happened. “I- wha – you, you- you just talked?!” 

Blake stared up blankly. “I did?”

“Yes! You’re doing it now!” Yang pointed at Blake accusatorily. Blake’s head tilted to the side. 

“…and you understood me, I take it?” Blake frowned, seeming deep in thought. 

“Yes!” 

“How strange. Perhaps it’s wearing off… what day is it today?”

Yang was still reeling at what was happening, and how calmly Blake seemed to be acting now that she could apparently _talk_. “Saturday. September 14th.” 

“Exactly a month then. Well, interesting to know I might not be like this forever.” Blake seemed satisfied with this information and went right back to showering. Yang, however, was far from satisfied. She had a million questions.

“What’s happening?” She just about shrieked at the cat at her feet. Blake looked up at her again.

“I’m not a cat. Well, I suppose I am now, but I’m not _really_ a cat. I was turned into a cat a month ago, and seeing as I can now speak, I guess it’s slowly wearing off. I’ll probably be back to human soon enough. Oh, and now that I can ask for things, would you mind using some shampoo on me?” Yang obliged and started lathering up the cat, processing this information as she did. 

_So, Blake is human. That would explain… pretty much everything._ Yang looked down. Blake was rinsing off at her feet, and Yang was… fully naked. She felt strangely self-conscious about that now that she knew Blake was human. 

Blake hopped out of the shower and shook the water from herself before padding away. Yang stood in the shower for far too long afterwards, head spinning. _I knew something was up with Blake, but… what the hell? _

Yang and Blake had a good old-fashioned sit and chat about what in the hell was going on. Blake had somehow, the details of which she was dodging skilfully, been turned into a cat. The very next day she’d been picked up by animal control and taken to the shelter. She had been planning to break out, but after only two more days Yang had taken her home. Now, here she was a month later, lapping at a cup of tea on Yang’s coffee table while the blonde sat across from her, jaw agape. 

“Don’t ask how this happened.” Blake had requested and repeated whenever Yang started to ask a question. “It’s… it’s a story for another day.”

“So… what do we do now?” Yang was in two minds about this. On one hand, she now had an answer to why Blake had been behaving so strangely, and it was just as outlandish as she could ever have hoped. 

On the other, the fact that Blake was a fully sentient human being changed things. Yang had just gotten used to having a pet, and now she didn’t really have a pet anymore. Blake couldn’t possibly be considered a pet, not when she was actually a person. It was more like she had a new roommate who just happened to be really short and walk on four legs. 

Up until now she’d been thinking about Blake in the same way she’d thought about Zwei back home. You play with them, you cuddle them, you give them pets and treats. But this was all suddenly so different with Blake. She’d began to feel like family with Blake, felt a deep sense of warmth and happiness and companionship when she looked at that furball curled up with her. She felt like Blake had supported her through her loneliness (which she’d have never admitted to Ruby) and her stress when classes got tough, just by being by her side and purring along without a care in the world. She’d grown to love Blake, love having her around. 

Now, Yang wasn’t quite sure how to feel.

“Now,” Blake stood and arched her back, stretching out her legs, “we keep on living. Wait and see if I turn back into a person, I guess. That is… if you’re still happy to have me around. I’d understand if this is all a bit too much.” 

“No, no,” Yang responded quickly, “stay, definitely. I’m kind of invested now. Also, I’m keen to hear the answer to the forbidden question one day.” Yang winked and immediately felt weird about winking at a cat, even if that cat was actually a person. 

Over the next few days Yang had a lot of time to think about Blake. The most pressing question of why and how Blake had become a cat she couldn’t even begin to predict the answer to, but there was plenty more to be overanalysed. 

If Blake was actually a person, why not leave right away after Yang brought her home? There were many opportunities for Blake to bolt out of the door when Yang had opened it. They’d even been outside together. Blake could surely not be happy living as a pet cat – so why did she stay? 

Perhaps for safety, comfort, and a guaranteed meal, Yang thought was the most likely case. That led on to the next point – they’d fallen asleep cuddling almost every night for a month. Nothing to bat an eyelid at for a human and a cat, but for a human and another human? That had connotations. Friendship, family, romance. Basically every reason Yang could think of for two people to be cuddling involved some sense of emotion and intimacy. So, Blake had a reason to stick around in Yang’s apartment, but what reason did she have to be so affectionate? 

Yang had to admit she’d found their sleep cuddles and hangout scratches to be very pleasing, but now that she knew Blake was a person it felt a bit different in hindsight, she thought. Maybe it didn’t really feel different, but she thought it should feel different, so she was purposely changing how she felt about it. Maybe Blake had begun to feel something similar toward Yang. Pets are friends, aren’t they? Yang really had no idea what to think. 

A few ground rules were established now that the two of them could communicate with one another. They instated separate shower times, but Yang would be needed to turn the water on and off, and occasionally to shampoo Blake’s fur. Blake now had a say in what was for dinner but couldn’t really help with preparation due to lack of opposable thumbs or payment due to lack of a wallet. She also had a say in what TV shows they watched, which Yang was much less thrilled about as Blake liked crime dramas and soaps, which Yang didn’t really do. 

While watching TV, Yang didn’t scratch behind Blake’s ears. It felt too weird to ask and too weird to do it without asking. Even if that’s what she’d been doing previously, it was different now. Everything felt so different. She felt like she was walking on eggshells with Blake now, mostly because she was deeply confused about the situation and had no reference on how to act or what to do. She wanted to pet Blake still, she thought. Maybe. She didn’t know, really.

At night, the two settled into different sides of the bed. Yang, facing away from Blake, looked over her shoulder and sighed. Her arms didn’t sit right without Blake in between them, and it was too quiet without her gentle purring. She felt cold. 

Resting her head back against the pillow, she settled into another barely restful sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our girls get awkward and the plot thickens.
> 
> Not having hands is hard.

“So, tell me something new.” Yang joined Blake on the couch, setting down a cup of tea for the cat and sipping on her own morning coffee. “What are you like as a person?”

It was a bit hard for Yang to say person as she was looking at the body of a cat. She’d taken the collar off soon after Blake had started (resumed?) talking and stopped referring to Blake as kitty, but it was still a shocking experience seeing a cat and hearing a human woman. 

Nonetheless, Yang listened intently as Blake rattled off a few key words. 

“Bookish” was the first thing she said, and one of the first things Yang noticed about her, too, as her bookshelf kept being ravaged. The claw marks on the spine of _Ninjas of Love_ could also vouch for this.

“I tend to keep to myself.” Yang saw some of that, too, and could kind of relate. As much as she loved spending time with lots of people and keeping up with her friends, Yang really appreciated having her own space to come back to when she needed it. Although she’d never seen Blake interact with anyone else, she got the vibe that she was a bit more reserved.

“People say I can be a bit troublesome at times.” Yang smiled and fondly thought back to that first day when Blake kept jumping on the bench. 

“Did you have a job, or were you a student, or something?” Yang asked, watching as Blake seemed to tense at the question. 

“I worked. It’s a dangerous job. It’s… it’s how this all happened, actually.” The cat seemed to stare off into space. Yang stayed quiet, letting her collect her thoughts. “My… workmates… are probably worried. I wish I could send them some sort of message letting them know I’m okay.”

“Well, we could go visit them!” If a cat could blanch, Blake did. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. This situation is complicated… and I don’t just mean the cat thing.” Blake trailed off, and Yang got the feeling she didn’t want to keep talking about it. 

Yang downed the rest of her coffee and stood up, starting to collect her things for class. “If you ever feel like doing something or talking about it, I’m here. As a friend, not just your-” she stopped herself from saying owner at the last possible second. She couldn’t think of another word to say, so grinned sheepishly and continued getting ready. 

She was opening the door to step out when Blake called to her. “Hey. Thanks. For everything so far. I know these are really strange circumstances, but… I don’t know what I’d have done without you, Yang.” 

Yang flashed her winning smile. “Don’t mention it.”

She closed the door behind her and leant her back against it for a moment. Despite having lived with Blake for over a month, this was the first time she’d said Yang’s name. Yang felt a familiar warmth in her chest like when they used to cuddle up at night. She had a great day at class that day.

Their chat earlier seemed to start bringing down a few barriers between them. The two were asking more questions of each other, getting to know each other beyond their strange cat/kind-of-owner relationship. 

Yang told Blake about her family – her sister, Ruby, had been the one to suggest getting a cat. She’d flip if she knew that the one cat Yang happened to choose turned out to not be a cat at all but was in fact secretly a human all along. It sounded like something straight out of Ruby’s old comics. 

They talked about Yang’s studies and ambitions. She’d always been smart and cared about fitness, so decided to combine those into physiotherapy. It wasn’t as thrilling as she’d like but she figured she could use the decent salary to go skydiving on the weekends. 

Blake talked a bit about her past. She’d grown up in a family of activists. This environment meant she had a strong sense of justice and a drive to see it served. She vagued about taking the delivery of justice into her own hands a few times. Yang was unsure what exactly this meant, and Blake didn’t elaborate. Yang was now slightly worried that her cat, who was actually a human, might also be an assassin. She wouldn’t be overly surprised – Blake had thrown more than her fair share of twists at Yang already. 

Blake suggested (demanded) tuna casserole with extra tuna for dinner that night. Begrudgingly, Yang had grabbed the ingredients on the way home and was now cooking it up. On the one hand, Yang was happy Blake seemed to be feeling comfortable around her and was keen to make something she’d enjoy. On the other… 

Yang screwed up her face, opening yet another tin. The smell was usually fine, but… “Blake, this is just. So much tuna. There’s more tuna than casserole. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much tuna in my life.”

Blake had requested one specific recipe from one specific cooking website. It was one of those sites where users could upload recipes and people would rate them. This one had five stars, rated by one person. Probably Blake. The recipe called for more cans of tuna than any reasonable person would need for anything, and Yang was beginning to suspect this recipe had been written by a cat.

_Wait a minute…_

“It’ll be great, trust me.” Blake called from the couch. “I’ve had this recipe heaps of times.” 

With the casserole in the oven and Yang quickly Googling on her phone _“how to remove intense tuna smell from inside an oven”_, she sat beside Blake, who seemed quite content with the apartment’s new aroma. 

“So, I know this is the touchy subject, but I was wondering if you could tell me. Why a cat? Could you have possibly been turned into something else?”

Blake looked at Yang for a moment, deciding how and whether to answer. “There are a lot of legends about the nature of this transformation. The most popular theory is that you turn into the animal which best represents who you are.” She gestured at herself with a paw. “Guess the universe thinks I’m cat-like.” 

“Good thing I didn’t get transformed, then.” 

“Why is that?”

“Because I would have turned into a dragon.” Yang flexed. Blake laughed. 

“How do you know that?” Yang shrugged. 

“I dunno. It’d be sick, though. But kind of hard to hide. At least you turned into a common animal. Imagine a dragon roaming around the city.”

“You’d get some great views, though.” 

“Oh, totally. Flying through the clouds, getting a dragon’s-eye-view of everything, not having to deal with traffic… I’d even let you ride on my back.” Yang winked, and Blake rolled her eyes. Yang smiled, reminding herself of something. “Speaking of… when I was thinking about getting a cat, there was something I really wanted to try…” 

Heads turned as a loud rumbling accompanied quite the sight down the city’s main street. A blonde with a smile like the Cheshire cat sat atop a motorcycle with a sidecar containing an actual cat, a little black and yellow helmet really pulling the look together. 

Yang glanced down to Blake frequently, making sure she was having fun. Or, as much fun as she could possibly be having in this situation. Yang wasn’t holding back on giving Blake the full Bumblebee experience, rounding corners and squeezing through gaps without touching the brakes once. The cat’s golden eyes were about as wide as they could possibly be, every claw Blake had digging into the leather seat below her. Yang would have to patch that up later, but it was worth it. She laughed to herself the whole ride, still chuckling as she carried a rattled Blake from the sidecar and back up to the apartment. 

“I guess this settles the score for my apartment reeking of fish, huh?” 

“I guess so.”

After attempting to consume what Yang had dubbed the Great Tuna Disaster – a title Blake vehemently disagreed with – they headed to bed separately again. Though, when Yang awoke, there was a warm, familiar presence curled up and leaning against her back. 

The next few days were a comedy of awkwardness, both sides having come to the conclusion that, since pets and cuddles are nice and they enjoy the company of one another, they wanted to reengage their previous level of physical affection but without appearing too eager to the other party. 

Yang started off with handing Blake her usual cup of tea one morning, but with a twist. She had it all planned out. She’d hold the cup and reach forward, passing it to Blake. _Except,_ Yang thought deviously, _I’ll be holding it with both hands, that way when Blake takes it, she’ll touch my hands._ The expectation was that this first instance of physical touch would break the ice and they’d feel more comfortable with each other.

The reality was far different. As Yang held it out towards Blake, she realised she’d made a major error in the planning stage of this endeavour as Blake does not have hands, making her incapable of taking the cup from Yang at all. 

The result was Yang holding a cup of tea aloft in front of a cat for a strangely long amount of time, smile slowly sinking as she came to the conclusion that she’d been fooled and there was no one to blame but herself. She put the tea on the counter and sat down with her coffee, dejected. 

Blake went for the Casual Lean as they watched Netflix together. She’d heard about the success of the Casual Lean from Sun, who insisted that it really opened the doors for further physical contact. Blake didn’t intend to pursue that line of thought in the same way that Sun did but thought it might be worth a try to let Yang subtly know she was down for pets and night-time cuddles again. 

Although, Blake felt as though she had the extra challenge of having to very, very accurately gauge how Yang felt as she was the one who was really put on the spot by this situation. Blake couldn’t blame Yang if she felt weird around a cat who was actually a person. Plus, there was the fact that Blake had been indulging in their cuddles before Yang knew Blake was a person. If Yang felt in any way betrayed by that, Blake would understand. She thought she’d extend an offer to initiate touch, though, in case it was something Yang was interested in, but she’d have to be very careful about it.

As she glanced towards Yang the first physical obstacle that came to mind was that, usually, two people sitting on a two-seater couch meant that you already started off quite close to that person. Therefore, the transition from sitting side by side to the Casual Lean was, as suggested, casual, since the leaner didn’t have to move very far or very obviously to make contact with the leanee. The problem was that Blake was a cat and cats are very small and do not take up the same space as a human would on a couch. Blake would have to move quite some distance closer to Yang to engage in the Casual Lean, which would not be very casual. 

Blake decided, then, to very, very slowly, over the course of the two-hour movie Yang had just put on, inch closer to Yang until she was within a casual distance, and then begin the lean. 

Several times, as she inched closer to Yang, she thought she might have been overthinking this and that she could just get up and lean on Yang with probably no consequence. But then Yang would laugh or smile at Blake and the nerves would hit her all over again. 

Eventually, even though she hadn’t been paying attention to the movie at all, it ended, and Yang stood up and walked into the kitchen before Blake made it close enough. _It was a stupid idea anyway. Why was I so nervous? Oh god she’s coming back,_ Blake quickly (and casually, she liked to think) shuffled back to her initial position as Yang sat beside her with another cup of tea, which she did not weirdly hold this time. 

They continued the back-and-forth for a few days, somehow managing to not touch each other, even incidentally, a single time. The final day of this saga, Yang had the day off class, but their series of awkward encounters ended without a climactic moment when Yang had to go to her desk and work on a report for her studies. 

Sitting at her desk and turning her PC on, Yang felt herself let go of a breath she felt like she’d been holding for days. She’d tried really hard to create a relaxing environment for Blake as she’d been through so much. But lately it had felt so tense, and Yang found herself reading into everything. She felt like an idiot for the tea thing and had no idea what Blake was trying to do shuffling closer to her during the movie. Maybe Blake wanted the same thing Yang did? 

She entertained that thought. Blake had seemed very receptive of pats and cuddles back when Yang didn’t know she was human. Maybe Blake thought that Yang was the one who was unsure about it? 

_That couldn’t be further from the truth,_ Yang thought, looking over her shoulder to see that Blake had walked into the room and curled up on the bed. Blake somehow always managed to be in the same room as Yang, as though they were held by some force of magnetism to be no more than five metres away at all times. 

Yang hadn’t known what to expect getting a cat. Certainly not for the cat to wind up being a person in the body of a cat, but there was something else quite unexpected about the relationship she had with Blake. 

There was something about Blake, something not tangible or visible, but something inside her that resonated with Yang. She felt it now, seeing the cat peacefully dozing on her bed. She felt it in class, thinking about what to make them for dinner. She felt it most strongly when they used to fall asleep together. Somehow, being with this cat, this person, instilled a deep feeling of peace and rightness within Yang. It made coming home from a long day in class feel like the best thing in the world. It made everything feel warmer and brighter. It made Yang feel like she’d never be lonely again.

She’d never felt so strongly like she wanted to protect someone else that wasn’t Ruby. She had no idea what kind of skeletons were in Blake’s closet or what kind of demons lurked in the shadows around her, but she knew for sure that she’d punch her way through anything that threatened Blake. She also had the feeling that, even though Yang would defend her, Blake was more than capable of defending herself, too. Even if she was a cat right now. 

Watching Blake curled up, the slow rise and fall of her chest as she slept, Yang wanted nothing more than to run her hands over Blake’s fur again. 

A few hours passed and Yang was finally happy with the progress she’d made on her report, though her thoughts had spent some time elsewhere. When she got up from her desk Blake requested for Yang to turn the shower on for her. She did, and Yang got changed for bed in the meantime. 

Blake called Yang again to shut off the water, and Yang dried her off with her hair dryer. Yang slid into bed while Blake took a few more moments to towel dry her paws and face. 

Blake headed towards the bed, hesitating as she thought about where on the bed to settle in. 

Yang sensed the hesitation and acted before she thought. Like on autopilot for a skill she’d mastered but hadn’t practiced in a while, she lifted the blankets, an open invitation for Blake to jump in. They both paused as they assessed Yang’s offer, Blake trying to reign in how relieved and elated she felt and Yang trying to calm down, asking herself why she’d been so bold. 

Blake only kept her waiting for a few seconds before taking her place between Yang’s arms, settling in and resting her head against Yang’s chest. Almost embarrassingly quickly, Blake started purring, and Yang would have too if she could. Yang’s hands found Blake’s favourite spot behind the ear, though her fur was still a bit damp. They were both tired from a long day of awkward stress but stayed awake as long as they could, trying to savour as much of this time as they could before sleep took them away from this moment. 

They spent a couple of weeks sleeping closely again, and both were happy with this development. Things settled into another routine of playing and hanging out when Yang got home, heading to bed and falling asleep together. They rarely spent a moment apart when Yang was home, Blake’s new favourite spot being on Yang’s lap no matter where Yang was sitting or what she was doing. 

“I’ll be home late tonight, going for drinks with some friends after class.” Yang swung out the door with the same energy she seemed to have a limitless supply of. “Don’t wait up!” 

She dashed off, and Blake was left sitting on the couch again. Blake was extremely glad she liked books and Yang was willing to pick her up so many so frequently, else she’d be dead bored every day just waiting for Yang to come home. 

Blake hopped onto the floor and over to the bottom row of the bookshelf where her current books were kept. She picked one out at random and dragged it over to the couch, digging her claws in as lightly as she could to heft it up. 

Of all the things that were functionally difficult about being a cat, Blake thought that not having thumbs was the worst. Even with her small stature and weaker muscles, a cat ought to be able to lift a light book a short vertical distance. But, no, cats don’t have thumbs, and therefore cannot really lift or hold anything. She hadn’t yet stooped to the irredeemable level of using her mouth to interact with objects, that’d be too much. She’d keep learning to use her claws and she’d absolutely keep internally complaining about it. 

She tapped the power button on the TV remote, feeling like some background noise as she read. She flipped open the cover when what was on the screen immediately caught her attention. 

“Police are still on the lookout for the gang of thieves involved in last month’s high-profile attempted robbery.” The newscaster said, the screen panning to the side and showing a generic stock photo of a robber in a striped shirt and a black sack over his shoulder beside her. The caption ‘Cat Burglars Still at Large’ was in bold above the image. _Oh, you sly bastard. _

“The victim, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been in communication with police regarding the suspects. Four adults, two men and two women, are believed to be involved. Although they were wearing masks, here is a sketch rendering of them now, based on the victim’s descriptions.”

Four masked, hand-drawn mugshots were displayed on the screen. Though they were all pretty far off the mark she recognised who they were supposed to be immediately. 

To the far left, a young man with spiked-up blue hair, the collar of a really cool jacket visible, and a pair of goggles over his eyes. _Neptune._

Next, a young man with even spikier spiked-up hair, blonde this time, with a monkey mask covering the top half of his face. A cheesy smile was there, even in what was supposed to be an artist’s rendering of a mugshot, and he sported an open jacket with no shirt underneath. _Sun. Let’s be thankful they can’t identify you based on a bare chest. _

Beside him, a girl with a long ponytail and dark patches on her skin, wearing a reptilian mask. _Ilia._

Lastly, a girl with a cat mask, shoulder-length black hair, and a determined expression. _They’ve got my nose all wrong…_

“If anyone has seen or has any information about these four individuals, please contact the police.”

Luckily, Blake didn’t look anything like the mugshot at the moment due to her cat status. She had no idea how long it’d last or what she’d do when and if she turned back. But she was also glad to see this on the TV. It meant that her teammates probably hadn’t been caught. 

“Police have so far identified one other individual believed to be linked to the crime.” _Oh no…_ Only one other person knew about their plans. Their informant and scout of the old man’s mansion. Blake thought they’d covered her tracks perfectly.

“A young woman, whose identity will be kept anonymous for the duration of the investigation, is believed to be in cooperation with the group of thieves. A search of the suspect’s phone records revealed messages sent and received weeks in advance containing details of the crime. The number thought to be possessed by the thieves was traced but no identifying information was found. The young woman is currently in police custody.”

Blake’s blood ran cold. _They’ve got Velvet._

She had initially dismissed the idea of trying to meet up with her teammates for a number of reasons. Besides the fact that she was still a cat and felt really weird about that, she couldn’t sure if they’d been captured already and this report was a bluff by law enforcement, attempting to lure Blake to their meeting place so she could also be caught. She also didn’t know whether the police knew she was a cat – if they did, she would lose her ability to hide in plain sight. 

Her team could also be totally fine, but she didn’t want to face them as this heist was her idea and it’d taken her a while to convince her friends that they could all pull it off. Not only had she been entirely wrong, but now Velvet had been caught and Blake was turned into a freaking cat. 

Blake didn’t know what to do. If she went to their meeting place and her friends were pissed off at her, she didn’t know where else she could turn. This group was all she knew, thievery for justice her only drive. 

But, she thought, she’d have to try. If she didn’t go, she’d lose out no matter what. Even though they might not even be there, even though they might have been caught or already abandoned her. If she stayed, she’d forever be tormented by the endless possibilities her mind conjured. _I have to go. _

She dashed off the couch, ready for action, but paused immediately. _Yang._

She jumped up onto Yang’s desk. A pen and a notebook sat beside the PC monitor. Blake flipped the notebook’s cover open with surprising ease. _Claws: 1, Book covers: 0._

Blake went to pick up the pen, forgetting momentarily that she didn’t have thumbs despite the fact that she’d just used her claws. She wound up slapping the pen with a paw expectantly, shocked for half a moment that this somehow didn’t work. 

_UGH._

She looked to Yang’s PC and pawed the mouse to wake up the monitor. Fortunately, a Word document was left open, the report Yang had been working on displayed on the screen.

_“Yang, I have to go see my colleagues. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”_ Was what she tried to type. 

Unfortunately, the letter keys on a keyboard are all very close together, and paws are wider than fingers. 

_“Ytang< INB HBAVE YO GOPL SDEEE M Y7 MOLKLK;EAWGES. I’;L;L; BDE BSACKJ ASD SOON NADS IO NCAHN.”_ Was what she got. _At what point did I hit caps lock?! _

Frustrated and growing increasingly panicked about Velvet’s safety, Blake decided that her basically illegible note would have to do. Yang wouldn’t even be home until much later, Blake recalled. She’d probably be home before Yang if all went smoothly. 

With that, Blake wrestled a window open and headed out. 

Blake had learned a few things about being a cat since last time she was prowling about in the wild.

Firstly, she’d been picked up by animal control immediately after fleeing the scene of their failed heist, most likely because she looked like a stray. She remembered all of the collarless cats in the shelter with her. Stray cats get nabbed. 

_Not this time,_ Blake thought triumphantly. She had a plan. 

Clutching the purple collar Yang had bought in her mouth (ew), Blake watched a passer-by who had a friendly feel about them. A blonde boy who looked about her human age, but with a lovable dopiness about him, evident as he spent far too much time admiring some flowers and looking over his shoulder to see if anyone had noticed, before going in for a quick sniff. His black hoodie even had a bunny on it – surely this is a good guy, Blake thought. 

“Aw, hey, kitty!” The boy took the bait as Blake stepped from behind a hedge and brushed up against his leg. He immediately stopped and crouched down beside her, petting her head and back. Blake leaned into the pets, indulging for a second as he scratched under her chin. 

He paused as he noticed what she was carrying. “Oh, has your collar come off? Let me help, kitty kitty.” He took the collar from her and checked the tag. “Blake, huh? Nice to meet you!” He seemed very genuinely glad to have met her, as though he were meeting a new friend, even though she was a cat. He even leant down and grabbed her paw as if to shake her hand, though she snatched it away quickly. Perhaps she’d picked someone _too_ nice. 

“Here you go.” He clipped the collar back around her neck, spinning the tag to check the back. “If lost return to Yang… are you lost, Blake? Maybe I should call your owner to be sure.” _Crap. _

Regretting having to ditch this guy who seemed to be enjoying the company of a cat, Blake pulled away and took off over a series of fences, a disappointed whine just audible as she went. 

Now, with her collar on, she wouldn’t be pinned as a stray, just an outdoor cat strolling the neighbourhood. Animal control was no longer a problem. She’d just have to be wary of too-good Samaritans.

Another thing she’d learned being a cat, even though she was just learning this now, was that people didn’t bat an eyelid when you pulled ninja moves in broad daylight. 

She was like lightning. Jumping between roofs, scaling walls and fences, dashing across narrow fence tops like it was nothing. People would only give her a passing glance, if they even saw her. Do all this as a human and you’re _“disrupting the neighbourhood, Blake”_ and _“liable for any property damage you cause.” _

Despite literally wearing a collar as she bolted through the streets, Blake felt free. 

Next, and perhaps most importantly, Blake had re-learned something she knew as a human but had overlooked in her newfound cat-ninja freedom. 

She stuck the landing on a short, narrow sculpture in a random backyard, having dived spectacularly from the steep fence nearby. Mentally congratulating herself, she scanned the yard for her next style points opportunity before noticing she wasn’t alone. Instinctively her back arched, tail fur tripled in width, and teeth bared as she looked down. 

_Always remember,_ Blake mused as her blood rushed, heart pounded, four legs moved faster than they ever had before, _some yards have dogs in them._

Finally, after having far too much fun and a near-death experience, she located a very familiar block in a shadier part of the city. 

The street was scrappy, potholes unfixed, fences fallen, grass and gardens unmaintained. Few people lived here, fewer visited. They picked this block because of the abandoned strip of shops and the dingy alley behind it. 

The old shops barely had a pane of unbroken glass between them. Most outside surfaces were covered in graffiti and most things inside had been looted or broken – these shops were empty chests lying open, plundered long ago. They were no longer of any interest to the few people in the area, making them a perfect place to meet with low risk. This was also their designated place to regroup and leave coded messages if they ever got split up during a job. If there was going to be information of the wellbeing of her group anywhere, it’d be here.

Blake sat on a rare unbroken fence across the street from the front entrances for an hour or so, watching for any movements inside or out. She watched the buildings on her side of the street, too, checking for signs of monitoring. They didn’t use the front of the shops anyway, but she had to be careful.

She slunk to the alley behind the shops, sticking to the shadows, watching each step. She found a vantage point where she was hidden and waited another hour. Satisfied that nothing seemed to be moving or watching her, she moved to the third door along the alley. 

She stood on her hind legs and stretched up, barely too short to reach the handle. The door had a keyhole, but it was never locked. It was a round doorknob anyway, so she wasn’t expecting to be able to turn it even if she could reach. Mostly, this attempt was out of habit. She knew from her time spent here that the door was the only way to access the building from the alley. She’d have to go through the front. 

She headed back to the front of the shops, scanning the street again before moving into the open. She made it to the third shopfront. The door was deadbolted from the inside, but they never used it anyway. Most of the space here was a gaping rectangular hole where a window once was, a few shards of glass remaining in place along the edges. Blake was careful not to stand on any glass as she stepped inside, not wanting to injure herself and make using paws any harder. 

She moved silently through the shop, weaving between old shelves and a few damaged books. This shop used to be a bookstore. This was definitely not part of why Blake insisted on choosing this one over the others. 

She made it to the back wall which had a door leading to the storage room. The storage room was the only other room besides the front room, and its other door was the one she failed to open in the alley. It was the room she needed to be in.

The door in front of her was closed, also with a round doorknob and keyhole. Sometimes it was left slightly ajar, but not for any planned reason. Sometimes Sun just poked around in the front room and didn’t close the door behind him. 

Blake glared at the door. In all her years of stealth and thievery, Blake never thought she’d be stopped dead in her tracks by an unlocked, entirely unchallenging door. She looked down at her paws, willing them to turn into hands. _WHY. _

Although, she didn’t even know if opening the door was a good idea. She had no idea what was waiting for her behind it, if anything. It could be her friends, plotting and planning. It could be a message saying they hate her, and it’s her fault Velvet got taken. It could be absolutely nothing. Or, it could be a stakeout by the cops. 

She was probably being too cautious with that last idea, but she was rattled after their failure in that old man’s vault. They’d pulled off a bunch of schemes before but never failed or even come close to it until that night, when they’d failed spectacularly and unexpectedly. Granted, it was the most dangerous job they’d ever tried, but she’d had faith in herself and her teammates. She still had no idea how it all went so wrong. 

Well, she knew how the cat thing happened, and was floored that the rumours about the artefacts were true and not just myth. The heist plan, however, seemed flawless, even in hindsight. 

She eyed the door again, wondering what she could do here, if anything. She tried to peek beneath the door but couldn’t see anything. She even tried to sniff under the door for any familiar scents, thinking that her cat nose might be of some help, but just ended up having to fight off a sneeze with all the dust she inhaled. 

This room was her only way of getting any kind of closure about her friends, bar a chance encounter somewhere in the streets. Though the group all considered each other friends, they knew that what they were getting into could have them wind up in some dangerous situations and so agreed to take measures to reduce the chances any one of them could be caught. They knew each other’s first names, but that was it – no last names, no addresses, no phone numbers, nothing. Just a small handful of people united by a shared goal. 

She had no other way of tracking them down. There was one old phone possessed by the group, but this was only used by the team to message Velvet and Blake didn’t know the number to reach it. 

She concluded that she could only meaningfully do one of two things. One, leave and just wait until when or if she turned back into a human, then actually scope the place and check the hideout for messages. Or, two… she could ask Yang for help. 

Yang was the only person she could contact who knew she was human; a fact Yang was taking surprisingly well. She’d probably also be willing to help, but it’d risk getting Yang caught up in all of this. That wasn’t fair to Yang, who had been nothing but good to Blake.

Blake could feel the guilt of getting Velvet in trouble eating her up inside. Telling Yang would be a huge risk. It might even end up getting Yang in trouble, and then Blake would be doubly guilty. On the other hand, Yang would be tangibly helpful as she had the ability to open doors, and Blake might find out that the rest of her team is okay. She’d be able to leave them a message and meet up with them if she got into that room. Then, even though she had no idea what she could do, she might be able to start taking steps to helping Velvet out and making up for the failure that had put her friends in danger. 

Blake sat on a roof watching the sun go down. Her options were chasing each other around in her mind, neither gaining any ground nor getting farther ahead of the other. It felt like a storm cloud had descended and started raining down inside her head, sparks of lightning striking guilt all the way down into her heart in thundering, painful pangs. 

Put Yang in danger or leave Velvet behind? Neither were good choices. She could always wait and see if she turned back into a human, but that felt like leaving Velvet behind as she had no idea when or even if she’d turn back. 

Yang. She had no idea about any of this and Blake had no right to get her involved, but there was no other option if she wanted to help Velvet. She couldn’t go around telling strangers she was a human and needed them to open this random door in an abandoned store for her. It had to be Yang. 

_But,_ some part of Blake screamed, _it can’t be Yang._

She closed her eyes. Parting the dark clouds in her mind’s eye, a bright golden light shone, descending from it a golden-scaled dragon. It snaked through the skies of her mind, chasing away the clouds, roaring triumphantly as sunlight filled the space once blackened. 

Blake opened her eyes, snapping herself out of daydreaming about her… friend? Housemate? Whatever Yang could be described as. She hadn’t known Yang for long, but what she did know was that the girl was full of love and light.

Blake had never intended to get close to Yang. Hell, she’d never intended to be turned into a cat, picked up by animal control, sent to a shelter or adopted. But it had all happened, and it had brought her to Yang. Somehow, looking back on what had happened, it was easy to see the silver lining. _Well,_ she thought fondly, _more like golden lining._

A golden dragon made of sunshine, patrolling the skies and chasing away the clouds of guilt and doubt. If Blake still had the time or the thumbs to write poetry, she’d probably concoct something based on that. She felt silly for even thinking about Yang like that, wrapped in a superfluous line of shitty poetry in Blake’s mind. Although Yang had, even under false premises, taken Blake in and cared for her, made her feel at home. Even after Blake had started talking again and told Yang some of the truth, she’d taken it in stride, going out of her way to help Blake feel comfortable even though Yang was probably some variety of uncomfortable given she was housing a talking cat. 

Blake really had no idea what she would have done or how she would have coped without Yang. She owed this girl a lot, and she was deeply grateful to have wound up with someone as warm-hearted as Yang. Blake thought she could stand to let Yang know some of this, it’d probably make her happy to know her efforts were being appreciated so much. She didn’t need to know about the poetry thing, though.

That all being said, it would probably hurt Yang to know that Blake had been keeping something this big from her, especially something that was upsetting Blake. Blake just didn’t want Yang to feel obliged to help if she found out, which was a very likely outcome. She didn't want to get Yang involved since the risk was so high. She wished anyone but Yang could help, but it couldn't be anyone but Yang. 

Maybe… they could just talk about it. Blake didn’t have to tell Yang where the meeting place was, so she couldn’t boldly burst in even if she tried. Blake was also certain she could hold her ground if Yang insisted that they go. Yang might even have a helpful point of view on the situation that Blake hadn’t considered. 

Noticing that it was well into the evening, Blake stood and headed back towards her and Yang’s apartment. It was quite late. Hopefully Blake could make it back before Yang did. 

Blake was relieved to find that the window she’d slipped out of was still open. However, the lights inside were on. Yang had beaten her home.

She cleared the window, stepped over the toaster with grace and landed silently on the kitchen floor. She strolled into the lounge room, but Yang wasn’t there. _Strange, she’s usually on the couch at this hour. _

Blake presumed she must be in bed. Rounding the couch, she headed to the bedroom. The door was ajar, dim light beyond it. She poked her head inside. 

Curled up on the bed half-facing the door was Yang. Her knees were pulled tight to her chest, arms wrapped around herself. In one hand, she held the laser pointer the two of them used to play with, though she wasn’t using it. Now that Blake was closer, she could hear choked sobs and sniffles. _Yang’s crying._

Blake watched for a moment, putting the pieces together. Glancing to Yang’s desk, she saw that her PC was asleep. She probably hadn’t seen Blake’s message, not that she could have understood it anyway. Yang was holding their laser pointer, plus the window was prised open and Blake was nowhere to be found inside… 

Blake felt another strike of lightning through her heart. _I’m such an idiot…_

_Yang thinks I left her._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Be gay do crimes" - Blake Belladonna 
> 
> Thanks for reading so far. This is my first fic so please drop a comment if you've got some feedback about tone/pacing/other writing words. I'd love to hear your thoughts!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn a bit more about Blake and how she done got catted. Also, some emotions appear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the bit of time between chapters, but today you get two chapters for the price of one, babey! 
> 
> These next two chapters are more exposition-based, and more related to Blake's past. This one is Blake's POV, next is back to Yang's.

Blake stood in the doorway, unmoving, for far too long. Yang hadn’t seen or heard her yet. 

She couldn’t move. Couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. Seeing Yang like this… it was heartbreaking. Even more crushing was that Blake knew Yang was crying because of her. 

Blake knew she had to do something, that Yang seeing her just staring at her crying instead of moving to help would be perceived as weird and unhelpful, possibly even cruel. She had so much going on in her mind. She didn’t know where to start.

_Maybe I’ll just start where we started._

Blake took a deep breath and thought back to when they first met, when a cage door was between them. Yang had been talking to her. A one-sided conversation, as Blake couldn’t speak yet, but she did try and convey something to Yang that day. Not a word, but a feeling expressed through one small sound. 

As best she could, she tried to repeat what she’d tried to tell Yang. The tiniest, sweetest _mew_ Blake could muster interrupted Yang’s sniffles, and Yang’s eyes snapped towards the door, a voice she’d know anywhere calling out to her.

“Blake?”

“Yang.” Blake trotted towards Yang, jumped up on to the bed, nestled into her chest. Yang’s arms habitually wrapped around her, pressing her closer. “I’m here.” 

A few more cries escaped Yang, of relief this time, before she settled. They didn’t speak for a while, just basked in each other’s presence. Blake tried to think of what to say to Yang, whether to bring up Velvet and her past or not. 

As Yang’s body shivered against hers, the blonde reaching up to wipe away her own tears, Blake decided not to tell her tonight. Tonight was about Yang and what she needed. They could address Blake’s needs later. Together. 

“Yang, I’m sorry.” Blake started, not quite knowing where to go from here without leading into the exact details of why she left. “I didn’t know how to let you know I’d be coming back. I tried to type a note on your computer, but… well, paws are really hard to use.” 

“It’s… it’s okay.” Yang’s voice was softer, smaller than Blake had ever heard it. “You came back. That’s what matters.” 

Blake wasn’t convinced it was okay. The unease in Yang’s voice betrayed her. 

“Is there anything you need from me?” _To not take off again, probably_, Blake thought as she asked. 

Yang hesitated for quite some time before responding. “I don’t know.” She seemed to be mustering up to saying something big – she was twitching her hands in the way Blake noticed she did when she was stressed about classwork. Blake let her prepare. 

“My mother left when I was just a baby. I haven’t seen or heard from her since. Ruby has a different mother, but she died when I was young, and Ruby was a baby.” Yang took a shaky breath. “My dad did a great job raising us both on his own. He never really told us much about her. I probably wouldn’t know who she was even if we tripped over each other on the street.” She was shaking again. “I’m still cut up about it, I guess. I can’t believe she could decide someone isn’t worth their time when they’re just a baby.” Yang was almost shouting, now. “She didn’t even know me. She’ll never know me. How could she even know if I was worth her time or not if she doesn’t have a clue about who I am?” She stopped herself, chest heaving, and looked down at Blake apologetically. 

“Don’t be sorry.” Blake beat her to it. “It wasn’t your fault.” Blake pushed closer to Yang, hoping she could nuzzle the worry out of her. She softened her voice, almost whispering. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Yang cried again, holding Blake close. Maybe this was something Yang was having trouble believing herself. Blake was no healer, no psychologist, but she’d do what she could for Yang. Right now, that was soothing words and being a cathartic ball of softness to hold. 

Blake reminisced on her own past as she replayed what Yang had said in her mind. The number of times Blake had up and ran from her problems was staggering. She ran from her parents when they tried to convince her not to get involved with the thieves. She ran from Adam (granted, he was the shittiest guy ever, but still). She ran from fights and cops and guard dogs and her own feelings too many times to count. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d faced something head on. 

Feeling Yang against her, she corrected herself. _Well, besides just now_. Blake smiled. _Hooray for character development._

Still, she couldn’t help but feel like her own experiences were the antithesis to Yang’s. Perhaps Yang would feel threatened if she knew everything Blake had done, all the times she’d ran away. She probably couldn’t blame Yang if she felt that way. Blake would probably feel the same way.

“Blake,” Yang started, seeming nervous about where her own sentence was going. She toyed with the silver charm on Blake’s collar. “When you turn back into a human… what will you do?” 

Blake knew what she was really asking. _Will you stay with me?_

She’d thought about it a lot. If she’d turned back within the first week, she’d probably have taken off without a second thought. But now… it was more complicated. Blake cared about Yang. Evidently, Yang cared about Blake, too. Maybe, in an ideal world, that would be enough to make Blake stay. 

But Blake led a life outside of these past weeks. A dangerous one, one where she maintained few contacts and even fewer people she’d consider friends. She even left her own family behind for this. Dragging Yang along would risk her livelihood, possibly even her life. She wasn’t sure she could live with herself if her actions ever put Yang in danger. 

Right now, Yang needed an answer from Blake, even though she didn’t have one to give. She knew what she wanted to say, and she knew what she ought to say. The golden dragon inside Blake’s mind couldn’t settle this storm when the dragon was the one who needed clarity.

“I don’t exactly know, but… No matter what happens,” Blake felt her stomach twisting, trying to tell at least some truth, “I always want to be part of your life.”

Blake felt Yang nod above her. She didn’t say anything back, but her hands started running through Blake’s fur. 

With all the lights still left on and tears dried on Yang’s cheeks, the two drifted off to sleep.

“I need to head out this morning. Meet me out for lunch later?”

Blake knew Yang had the same mental image of that as she did. A fiery blonde sitting at a table seemingly by herself, but with two plates of food. Upon closer inspection the second, empty chair would be occupied by a small black cat. The stares would be plentiful. 

Blake also didn’t miss the flash of fear across Yang’s face as Blake mentioned heading out, but Yang didn’t protest. Blake told Yang the address of one of her favourite places, then headed out the door Yang opened for her. “See you at 12!” Blake called out behind her as she went. 

Blake played out a gymnastics routine across fences as she headed a few suburbs over from Yang’s apartment. 

She didn’t know what to expect heading back to her own apartment, the one she’d occupied as a human. She’d forgotten all about it for the most part, her time and attention eaten up by adjusting to life as Yang’s cat. She had paid the previous month’s rent in advance, so it was unlikely she’d been evicted. Hopefully she hadn’t been robbed. 

Dancing through treetops in the leafy neighbourhood, Blake leapt and barely grasped onto the railing of her second-floor balcony. She scrambled up, making a mental note to take more time to judge jumping distances from now on. 

Her balcony was as she left it, save for a few plants which had died from dehydration. _Sorry, guys_. Her outdoor setting was modest in Blake’s words, bare minimum in the words of others. One small, round table with one plain chair facing out across the street, a few plants scattered around, a small outdoor heater. She paid it all little mind, heading instead to the glass sliding doors. Due to the nature of her work, she often lost or just didn’t bring her keys with her, so she always had a way to get in from the outside without them. 

She made her way to the leftmost corner where the doors intersected the wall. She dug her claws under the edge of the floor tile nestled in the corner and pulled. It lifted with some effort, revealing an empty space underneath. A small latch-like structure rested vertically on the wall under where the door was. She pushed it down, releasing the hidden lock she’d installed on the doors. She never locked the door using its normal lock, so this was a guaranteed way to get inside. She placed the tile back. She wasn’t allowed to modify her apartment in any structural way, but if she left this apartment, she’d just leave the hidden latch unlocked and the landlord would be none the wiser. 

With a bit of effort, she pulled the door aside a few inches and managed to slip through, wriggling under the lowered blinds and stepping into her living room. 

It was as she remembered it being. Pale grey couch in front of a small, largely unused TV. A wall taken up by bookshelves of varying size and shape, filled to capacity with an impressive collection of tomes. A kitchen attached with a few appliances, left totally clean.

The most striking, and really only noteworthy or unique aspect of her home was the numerous artefacts displayed around the place. Wooden spears with sharpened blades at the ends, shields painted with sigils of claws and fangs, tattered banners and little knick-knacks. Some of it handed down through her bloodline, most of it stolen from those who had killed or unfairly bartered for it. 

This was her life, stealing back priceless artefacts from those it meant nothing but cash and novelty to. She paced around, looking at them each in turn, reminiscing on each heist she’d been part of to bring this all home. 

Neptune, Sun, and Ilia had been with her through all of them, the four sneaking in through often heavily guarded private collections and manors, running with nothing but their drive for justice and the tipoffs they got from Velvet. 

Neptune would disarm any electronic alarms and cameras with what he had named his Justice Buzzer. It was really just a high-tech EMP on steroids. 

Blake was the lockpicker. She could crack anything – key locks, combinations, fingerprints, voice-activated locks. If it kept them out of a vault, she could break through it without a trace. 

Sun was their point guy, ready to use his muscle if needed. Always first into the room, gunchucks at the ready, signalling to the others what was ahead. 

Ilia hid in the shadows and watched their backs. Usually, she knocked out any passing guards with her whip and her superior sneaking skills but was always ready to sound the alarm if everything looked like it was about to go sideways. 

When all looked clear, as it always did, the four of them would grab everything they could and follow Velvet’s safest route out, dashing into the night. 

They’d agreed to keep the artefacts in their own homes until they figured out what to do with them. They wanted to be able to display them one day, to inform people about the culture they came from, but it was impossible at the moment since they were all wanted criminals holding stolen goods. 

Blake touched a paw to a shield propped up against the wall. Her distant ancestors, the ancient civilisation called the Faunus, had been largely wiped out long ago, but she felt connected to them through the legends and tools they left behind. Sun, Ilia, and Velvet had felt the same way, the four of them feeling increasingly hopeless as they grew up watching their ancestral artefacts auctioned off and stolen away by filthy rich people who had no regard for the cultural significance of what they were buying. The four met at a protest years ago. Here they also met Neptune, who was not a descendant of the Faunus, just a very proactive ally. The four kept in touch secretly, initially in a fun, secret-hideout kind of way, though this eventually turned into direct action against the law and so anonymity was maintained as much as possible for their own sakes. 

Legends say the Faunus were humans with animal traits, like horns and ears and scales. Though this was never totally confirmed by any sources, Blake believed it now after being shifted into the body of a cat by an artefact. 

Blake wondered if her Faunus ancestors were watching over her. Would they be proud of what she was doing? Maybe they were laughing at her for getting herself turned into a cat. She would be, if it had happened to someone other than herself. 

Remembering what she actually came here for, Blake headed into her bedroom. A very plain, very simple room with a double bed and plaid blankets folded over it sat in the middle of the room. A few of her favourite artefacts, like the cloak believed to belong to the great chief Sierra Khan, were kept in her room. On her bedside table, a small black pouch sat beside her lamp and clock. 

Blake hopped up onto the bed and begrudgingly held the pouch in her mouth. Yang had taken far too many bills for Blake. It was time to start repaying her. 

The café Blake recommended was one of her favourites because of the semi-private outdoor booths that allowed her to get some sunshine while also not having to feel like she was too out in the open. When she arrived, Yang was sitting in one of these booths already, perusing the menu.

Blake hopped up onto the bench opposite her, plonking the pouch onto the table, startling Yang as she did so. Yang smiled brightly when she saw Blake and seemed to sigh with relief. “I swung by my place. Lunch is on me today.” 

The waitress almost chose the worst time to appear – a second earlier and she would have witnessed a cat offering to buy a girl lunch. Luckily, the waitress was only confused by what she saw, not what she might have heard, and took Yang’s two orders as quickly as possible before bustling off.

Blake ordered eggs with smoked salmon, but only intended to eat the smoked salmon. Yang ordered the same but intended to take Blake’s eggs in exchange for her salmon. Blake found this deal amenable.

“So, I was meaning to ask. Where did you go last night?” Yang asked, sipping her coffee. 

_Starting off great._ Blake had hoped Yang wouldn’t ask. She still wasn’t sure how much to tell her right now. She could be vague, she supposed. It was probably for the best right now. 

“I had a think about it and decided to go see my workmates.”

“Oh, cool. Bet they were glad to see you.” Yang kept sipping at her coffee, oblivious to Blake’s internal screaming. 

“…They actually weren’t in. Might try again some other time.”

“Cool.” 

Blake was glad she didn’t have sweat glands right now or else she’d be sweating bullets. Luckily, Yang seemed content with the answers she got, however much detail Blake had omitted. She felt bad hiding this from Yang, but she had to find the right time and the right way to bring this up. She couldn’t just drop a casual _“hey, in addition to being a cat I’m also a wanted criminal. By the way, want to risk your life for my friend you’ve never met?”_ It had to be done right, if at all, else she could end up with nowhere to go… and no Yang. 

They chatted while keeping a close eye on other customers and the wait staff’s movements. Yang had her phone out so that in case of emergency she could say she had a call on loudspeaker. That way she’d just seem like an impolite café-goer rather than someone having a conversation with a cat, who was responding. 

As expected, everyone who saw them at the table together had to double-take to be sure their eyes weren’t lying to them. A few people came up and asked Yang about her well-mannered cat. Some even asked for pets, which Yang said Blake would be fine with. This was only true for the first few people; Blake quickly grew tired of being a novelty, but Yang seemed to be having fun, so she let it slide. 

When they’d eaten and Yang had paid using Blake’s card – which she was initially against, saying it was fine, but Blake insisted – they walked home together. Blake, despite having four legs, was finding it difficult to keep up with Yang without half-running the entire time. Yang’s legs, Blake noted, were unfairly long, even for a person. Yang seemed to notice Blake struggling and glaring at her legs, leaning down and scooping the cat up with one hand, cradling her in her arms so she wouldn’t have to walk. Blake wasn’t sure if this was better or worse. But she saw Yang was smiling, so couldn’t be too mad. 

They got home and Yang busied herself with classwork. Blake had a newly refreshed stock of books thanks to Yang, and she dragged one up to her side of the couch. As she flipped the cover open, she stared blankly at the words, absorbing none of the information they conveyed. She didn’t feel much like reading. She thought of turning the TV on but feared seeing another news segment about her team. Her stomach turned just thinking about it. 

Blake wondered what Yang thought of her gang of thieves. You could barely turn the TV on without seeing something about them these days. With the amount of media coverage they were getting lately, the old man must have been launching buckets of money at the police and news stations. He was well pissed, apparently. 

It wasn’t that surprising – the artefact they’d tried to steal was regarded as the most valuable object the Faunus left behind, and rumour had it the thing was straight-up magical. Or, cursed, depending on your outlook. The people who knew about it and its origins were smart enough to heed the warnings to never touch it, and for good reason. Blake’s bare skin had grazed it for half a second and now she was a cat. 

Blake was snapped out of her thoughts by a knock at the door. She heard Yang stand and quickly head to get it, holding a long white coat. As she passed Blake, she stopped and leaned in closely. 

“My friend is just stopping to pick up the jacket she left behind in class. Play it cool, kitty-cat.” She stuck her tongue out and jogged the rest of the way to the door. 

Blake watched as the door opened and a girl Yang’s age greeted her. She was short – quite short, actually – with long, straight, snow-white hair and piercing blue eyes. Blake stared at those features. White hair, blue eyes… she had an air of arrogance around her, too. She seemed incredibly familiar. 

“Hey, Weiss. Here’s your coat.” Yang handed it over cheerily. Weiss thanked her, poking her head around Yang to lock eyes with Blake. “Oh, you haven’t met my new housemate, have you?” Yang seemed to realise that her wording was slightly strange, referring to Blake as though she were a person, and corrected herself, kind of. “Cat-housemate. Catmate. Like flatmate, but she’s a cat.” Neither Weiss nor Blake laughed, but Yang seemed pleased with herself, continuing on in stride. “Weiss, this is Blake.” 

Blake hadn’t yet broken eyes with Weiss. Blake wondered why people wanted to have staring contests with cats. Blake, as far as Weiss knew, was a regular cat. Staring and standoffish behaviour were part of the job description. Weiss, a human, had no real excuse. Maybe she didn’t like cats. 

As Blake looked at this girl further, the feeling of knowing her grew stronger, but she couldn’t place it.

Yang didn’t notice anything strange occurring. “Wanna pet her? She’s suuuuuper friendly.” Blake stifled a snort. 

“I’ll pass, thank you.” Weiss finally looked away from Blake. “See you next week.” She smiled, a genuine smile from what Blake could tell, and headed off. Yang waved and closed the door.

“Are you guys close?” Blake asked when she was sure Weiss would be far away enough to not hear inside the house. 

“Kind of. We’ve only got one class together this year, though. She’s doing pre-med, so we’ve got a bit of overlap in our subjects. We have lunch together pretty often.” 

That didn’t give Blake any useful information on who this girl was. If she was important, Blake was sure she’d have remembered, so it was probably nothing major. Still, it bugged her. 

The sound of Yang squeaking in delight woke Blake up a few mornings later. She was holding her phone, looking at her texts excitedly. “My baby sister is coming to visit!” 

Blake had heard about Ruby quite a bit from Yang. It was Ruby’s idea for Yang to get a cat. Though she couldn’t tell her, she was very grateful to the girl she’d never met for persuading Yang. It was thanks to Ruby that they’d met, after all. 

“She’ll be here tomorrow night and stay over. Ah-” Yang paused, looking towards Blake. “Is that alright with you?” 

“Of course.” Blake wasn’t sure what there was to be not okay with. “Why are you asking me?” 

“Well, this is your home, too. I just wanted to run it by you.” 

Blake smiled, chest fluttering a bit. “It’s perfectly fine, Yang. I’m excited to meet her.” 

Yang looked overjoyed, scooping Blake up into a hug. “Yay! I know Rubes is gonna love you, too!” 

Humming in agreeance, Blake leaned into the hug, feeling her own fur-hidden cheeks flush. _Too?_

Perhaps she was reading too far into that. _But maybe_, some part of her insisted,_ maybe you’re reading the exact right amount into it._

Something had been creeping up on Blake lately. Something about Yang. Something telling her she might like Yang as a bit more than a housemate and friend. 

She’d spent so much of her time living with Yang being worried about the fact that she was a cat, the wellbeing of her team, how she could go back to her normal life, that she hadn’t paid very much attention to any of her feelings that weren’t anxious ones. Even though she was now stressed about confessing her criminality to Yang, Blake had started to feel more relaxed in general. And with that feeling of relaxation, less of her emotional capacity was taken up by worry. 

That left room for feeling certain ways about living in _very_ close proximity to what was, objectively speaking, a very attractive woman. A very attractive woman who had spent so much of her time, money, and effort to make sure Blake felt safe and comfortable in her home. A very attractive woman who picked her up, carried her around, and held her close all the time. 

The close contact didn’t bother Blake, it was just that she couldn’t help but feel a bit flustered when Yang got all touchy now. Initially it wasn’t like that – she accepted pets and cuddles before Yang knew she was human mostly to keep up the charade. She liked it, obviously, and wanted Yang to keep touching her, but her reasons were a bit different now. 

Living with Yang made her feel safer, calmer than she had in quite some time. Some of it was likely due to being a cat and therefore being perpetually undercover in a city where she was wanted by the police. But, she thought, she’d be nowhere near as happy and relaxed if she weren’t with Yang. 

In her thought train sparked by reading into Yang’s words, she’d missed Yang’s own reaction to what was said as Yang had now slid out of bed. 

It was probably normal for Blake to be having feelings about living this close to Yang, she thought. She was still human on the inside – she still thought and felt like she did when she was in her real body. Though she was in the shell of a cat, she could still look at Yang and find her attractive, still think about her and have her heart skip a beat.

What must be difficult is how Yang might be feeling. If Yang _did_ have similar thoughts and feelings about Blake, she’d probably be having some intense inner turmoil, because while she was interacting with the mind and soul of a person, she was looking at a cat. 

_That means_, Blake thought as she watched Yang head into the bathroom, hearing the shower turn on, _I can’t tell her about this_. The last thing she wanted was to confuse Yang further. That is, if she even had similar feelings in the first place – Blake was being awfully presumptuous. Yang hadn’t shown or expressed interest in anyone since Blake had been living there. Maybe she didn’t even like girls. 

Blake sighed, resting her head on her paws. _Being a gay cat is hard. _

Ruby arrived the next afternoon, bounding into the house with the same endless energy Yang seemed to have. Ruby was small, her reddish-blackish hair short and matching the colour scheme of her clothes. Blake got a good vibe from her right away. 

The second Ruby and Yang had finished their hug with what looked like several tonnes of force, Ruby beelined right for Blake, shouting “KITTY!” along the way. 

Before she knew it, Blake was scooped up and held in a Lion King-like fashion, Ruby’s hands under Blake’s arms, Blake’s body hanging limp below, legs straightened out. All Blake could see was Ruby’s smile beaming back at her. 

“Alright, let’s be gentle with her, Rubes.” Yang intervened quickly. She must have sensed the intense discomfort Blake was experiencing in that position. 

Ruby put Blake down on the couch, watching her expectantly. _Okay, showtime, think cat…_ Blake sat down where she was placed and stared at Ruby. _Cats love to stare._

This seemed to please Ruby, who was looking on with awe. “I love her!” 

“Yeah, she’s the best.” Yang smiled over at Blake, giving her a wink from behind Ruby’s back. Blake was very glad her skin was covered by fur, or it’d be bright pink. 

Ruby extended her hands and started petting Blake. She allowed this to happen, even though the girl was slightly rough, probably due to her enthusiasm. Yang laughed and sat beside Blake, smiling at the two of them.

Ruby’s visit went by in a flash. Her and Yang went out for lunch that afternoon and they all had dinner together that night. Ruby was amazed that Blake somehow liked people food more than cat food and ate at the table with them. 

While they were having dinner, the regular news broadcast came on. A few regular bits and pieces like sports and the weather came up, and Ruby nagged Yang to change the channel. Yang had picked up the remote and was about to switch it over when she paused, the news anchor starting a new segment.

“Police have new intelligence surrounding the four masked vigilantes involved with last month’s attempted robbery.” The anchor said, the four mugshots of Blake and her team appearing on screen.

“Ooh ooh, these guys are really cool! Let’s listen!” Ruby chimed in with her mouth full of rice. 

“Cool?” Yang’s mouth was also full of rice. “They’re criminals, Rubes!” Blake felt her stomach drop at that, keeping her eyes on the screen. 

“Police investigation and numerous accounts from previous burglaries indicate that last month’s attempt was not a once-off. It appears that this group have been involved with numerous robberies around the city, all targeting similar items – archaeological objects related to the ancient Faunus civilisation.” 

“Pssh, the internet has known about that for ages.” Ruby interjected, taking another mouthful of food.

“Police are still unsure of the thieves’ identities or motives but are working with private owners and museums in increasing security in case these thieves strike again.” An image of a Faunus shield like the ones in Blake’s apartment appeared on screen next to their masked faces.

“See, look how cool!” Ruby was pointing at the screen now. “They’re stealing ancient stuff and wearing masks and they’re wanted by the law!” 

“Ruby, they’re stealing things that belong to other people.” Yang was laughing as she said it, seemingly at Ruby’s childlike wonder, but Blake was still cut by what she was saying. 

“But Yang, listen,” Ruby settled a bit, facing Yang, “I’ve been reading articles about the Faunus civilisation. Apparently, all the stuff that was left behind by them was stolen from their descendants in the first place by the museums and rich people.” Ruby looked genuinely sad as she said this. Blake wondered if she felt genuine compassion about this. “And look, the thieves wear animal masks, representing the Faunus. That’s not a coincidence.” 

“So, you think the thieves might be people related to the Faunus stealing their stuff back?” 

“Yeah! Maybe they’re not the bad guys!” 

While Blake was curious to see how Yang would react, she felt sick to her stomach hearing Yang talking about her team and her criminal activity. She hopped off the couch and headed to the bedroom, snaking under the sheets and curling up. At some point, while Ruby and Yang were talking and joking in the next room, Blake fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The internet is an interesting place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've read this recently, let it be known I changed the ending of this chapter (on 23/09, or 09/22 if you're not in Australia or elsewhere in this time zone at the time I'm writing this). Suss the new chapter ending if you haven't already :)

Ruby had slept on the couch that night and Yang saw her off the next morning, happy to have seen her sister for the first time in a couple of months. Yang was glad Ruby liked Blake, though she wasn’t sure why that felt important to her. 

Yang headed back to her bedroom after Ruby left. Blake went to bed and fell asleep far before Yang last night, and so they had missed their usual cuddles. She hoped Blake was feeling okay. Maybe pretending to be a normal cat again had stressed her out. 

Yang headed to the kitchen, made toast, sat at her desk and turned her PC on as quietly as she could, trying not to disturb the still-sleeping Blake. She put her headphones on and opened a report, staring at it blankly for a while before resigning herself to a YouTube binge. 

She clicked through whatever interested her on her recommended list. A few music videos, some sports highlights, a video about how to play Super Smash Bros competitively. Eventually, she saw a video title that reminded her of what Ruby was saying last night. 

It was a video about the masked thieves from the news. Even though they were local to the city, and it was not a small city, word of the masked thieves had apparently spread pretty far. This video was titled “ASRE: Masked Vigilantes’ Past and Backstories”. 

Yang clicked and listened. According to this person, the thieves had never officially identified themselves by individual or group names. Fans (which they apparently had) had named the group Team ASRE, pronounced Azure. 

People were writing headcanons about the individuals, too. The blue-haired, goggle-wearing boy was named Azure by his many fans. This video claimed he was secretly a pirate, a true man of the seas, with salt water running through his veins. 

The shirtless blonde with the monkey mask was Spark. The fans thought he liked to act tough but was actually very shy when the mask came off, and was a softie for Azure, who he was secretly dating or pining after. 

The reptile-masked ponytail girl was the mum friend, the fans thought, and named her Rosa. Loyal to a fault, she would do anything to help her friends, especially her cat-masked friend, who she would never turn her back on and always be by her side (but in a platonic, gal-pals kind of way). 

The girl in the cat mask spurred the most controversy among ASRE fans. The only things agreed on about her were that her name was Ebony and that she was a mystery. 

Yang thought some of the names needed work. Also, that it was kind of weird to be making up such detailed stories about real people, especially people who were criminals. 

The videos also often tried to justify the actions of the thieves, like what Ruby was saying the night before. The animal masks and the fact that they only targeted Faunus artefacts made it seem like these people had some stake in Faunus affairs. Some videos deep dived into Faunus history and the history of the items ASRE were stealing. There were some reports about secret auctions selling off high-value artefacts which were somehow obtained from Faunus descendants. There were articles written by descendants detailing how sacred items had been stolen or purchased under unfair conditions. 

All in all, Yang wasn’t quite sure what to think. The sensationalism surrounding the group was certainly confusing. It seemed unfair to her that the Faunus descendants had been robbed. 

Ultimately, she decided, it didn’t really impact her that much, and there wasn’t much she as an individual could do about any of it. 

She was about to close her numerous tabs when Blake jumped up onto the desk beside her. She said something, but Yang couldn’t hear through her sound-cancelling headphones. 

She slipped the headphones down to rest around her neck. “What?”

“I said, what are you looking at?” Blake half smiled. 

Yang suddenly felt a bit self-conscious having been busted with all of these ASRE fan pages open. “Uh, it’s not what it looks like,” she fumbled with the mouse, intending to close some windows, but instead opening a blank new tab. “I was just curious about them after what Ruby was saying last night.” 

“Uh-huh.” Blake swatted Yang’s hand, taking control of the mouse. Unskilfully, she navigated to a tab Yang had opened which had the four mugshots of the members of ASRE. She paused for a while, looking between the screen and Yang. “What do you think of them?”

“Well, I don’t really know.” That was the honest answer. “The popular opinion is that they’re related to the Faunus civilisation. If that is true, it’s understandable that they’d want their sacred things back, especially if they were stolen from them in the first place.” Yang sighed, looking at the four masked individuals. “Still, how weirdly popular they are online is a bit off putting. Especially since they are still thieves.” 

Blake had started reading the descriptions on this webpage, ones that fans had made up about their personas. She looked very confused. “The internet is making up identities and backstories? That’s… weird.” 

“Yeah.” Yang clicked over to a new page, one dedicated to Azure. They were discussing why he didn’t wear an animal mask like the others. Some people thought he might have something like heterochromia which would make him more easily identifiable if his eyes were visible, like the others’ eyes were. Others thought he might be a friend of the Faunus descendants and not one himself. “The internet is an interesting place. I suppose a gang of masked thieves stealing ancient artefacts is pretty cool.” She clicked through a few more pages, Blake making confused comments every now and then. Yang eventually stopped her browsing, coming to a stop on the four mugshot drawings. 

Yang heard Blake take a shaky breath. She looked over at the cat, who was looking intently at the screen. “Yang…” she started, clearly very nervous about what she was going to say. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while.” 

Yang was concerned about whatever this was. Not because there was any chance she’d turn Blake away, but because it was obviously something that was bothering Blake, something she had a hard time talking about. Whatever it was, she was ready to hear it and help Blake however she could. Instead of responding with words, Yang raised a hand and stroked the back of Blake’s neck gently, hoping her support would somehow seep through her skin. 

Blake stayed quiet for a few moments before leaning closer to the screen. She raised a paw and lightly touched the image of the cat-masked girl, who the fans had named Ebony. 

“That’s me.”

Yang had no idea what to say or do, so settled with a long pause followed by “what?”

“I’m part of this group of thieves.” Blake sat back, looking at Yang now. “We are actually descendants of the Faunus, stealing back artefacts that were stolen from us and our ancestors. We thought it was wrong that these filthy rich people were taking things that were important to us on a whim, just because they wanted some new novelty to display in their mansions.” 

Yang had to agree with that. She didn’t know what it felt like but could imagine the specific kind of hurt that came with seeing your heritage being stolen and disrespected. 

“And… it’s how I was turned into this. One specific item is considered the most valuable among the Faunus, and it was recently stolen by someone with extremely high esteem in this city. We broke into his vault to try and steal it back. The problem is, this artefact is actually magical, and it’s well known that you should never touch it.” 

Blake sighed, looking down at her paws. Yang could piece together what happened next but wanted to keep quiet and let Blake finish her train of thought.

“The guards swarmed the vault. We’re usually fine with taking down guards but these guys were tough. In the scuffle, I was knocked over and my arm grazed the object. It was fine, but the second I touched it there was a flash of light and then… this.” 

“What happened to the others?” Yang had intended to just listen, but she was invested in this story now. Blake looked back up at her.

“When we all realised what had happened, with me unable to fight, we stood even less of a chance against those guards. So, we ran. I couldn’t communicate with them obviously, but we dodged the guards to get out of the vault and split in different directions.”

“So, they’re all safe? And none of them turned into animals?”

“This didn’t happen to anyone else, no. I tried to access our meeting place to see if any messages had been left behind, but I couldn’t get in. I couldn’t open the door because… well, I don’t have hands. So, I don’t really know. All I know is we scattered, and I’m now a cat.”

“So…” Yang sensed a golden opportunity, “what you’re saying here is… you’re a _cat burglar?_”

Blake slammed her head against the desk. Yang beamed.

She forced her train of thought back on track. Before she could fully process all of this information, her first instinct (after punning) told her that she could help Blake. She could open the door. Blake could check for messages and then she’d know if her friends were okay. 

After the rest of her thoughts caught up with her, she realised some implications of what Blake had just said. Blake just admitted that she was a wanted thief. A really cool wanted thief with an online cult following, but a criminal nonetheless. If Yang helped, she could get into legal trouble herself. 

“And there’s something else.” Blake said, looking even more worried than she had this entire time. “I heard on the news a few nights ago that the police had captured another of our own. She doesn’t come to heists; she scouts the area beforehand and plans timing and escape routes. I’ve been worried sick about her lately. The police could be bluffing to try and flush us out if we’re separated, but… what if it’s real? When I left that night, it was to go to our meeting place to try and find out if she was okay. So, I still don’t know.” 

Yang stood, took a few steps back, and flopped onto her bed, the backs of her hands over her eyes. She still couldn’t believe how strongly her mind and body were telling her to help Blake, no matter the cost. This cat, this girl, had come into her life completely out of left field, but Yang felt like it was somehow meant to be. It was strange how at home she felt with Blake sitting on her or cuddling up with her, how Blake’s voice sounded like every favourite song she’d ever had. She’d only known Blake for about a month and a half, but it felt like a lifetime. She had no idea how Blake had meowed and purred and snuggled her way into her heart so quickly. She tried to think of her home without Blake in it and felt empty. 

Listening to her heart, she didn’t really feel like she had a choice. 

“So, where is this meeting place?”

Yang was struggling to keep up with Blake. It was, quite frankly, extremely unfair that Blake could jump so many times higher than Yang even though she was so many times smaller. Blake was bouncing around, running across fences, sneaking around corners. She was like a little ninja. Yang was mostly bound to sidewalks lest she cause someone to think she was trying to break into their house.

Blake paused at a dingy looking corner, holding up a paw to signal Yang to stop. She glanced around for a while before turning to Yang.

“The place is across the road, the third building down once we head down the alley at the back. I’ll watch for a while to see if the place is being watched. On my signal, walk across the street and into the alley as casually as you can.” 

Yang nodded, sitting beside Blake further around the fence they were posted at. She had left her phone, keys, and wallet at home at Blake’s request. She didn’t have much to do while she waited for Blake, so she began counting blades of grass. 

She reached 917 blades of grass, many of which were likely duplicates, when Blake nudged her, signalling to go. She stood and the two walked extremely casually across the road. Or so they thought. Stepping from their watching place Yang immediately forgot how to arms and switched quickly between marching, having her arms limp by her sides, crossing her arms, hands on hips, and at one point, T-posing. If it wouldn’t have interrupted her walking, Blake would have slapped her. 

They reached the alley behind the shops and came to the third door along. Blake tried to peek under the door and placed her ear to the gap. She nodded to Yang, and Yang reached her hand out to grab the handle. Taking a deep breath, she turned it. It didn’t budge. 

“I… I think it’s locked.” 

“What? It’s never locked. Try again.”

Yang tried again. Still nothing.

“Weird… let’s go through the front. Don’t bother walking casually this time, just walk carefully. There’s a lot of broken glass around there.”

They rounded to the front of the shop and stepped through the broken window. They avoided the glass and headed to the back of the shop where the storage room door was. Yang found that this door was also locked.

“We don’t ever lock the doors, what’s going on?” Blake seemed genuinely very alarmed. Yang had no idea what could possibly help in this situation.

Blake stood against the door on her hind legs, inspecting the handle. 

“Yang, have you ever picked a lock?” She asked as she dropped back to all fours and started searching the room. As Yang responded with a negative, Blake returned with a paperclip and a nail file which she’d pulled from the overturned reception desk. “These only ever really work in the movies, but if you do it right, we might be in business. Now, listen very closely.”

Yang held the two items in her hands, the other ends of them shoved into the keyhole of the door handle. Blake was barking instructions at her as she wiggled her hands helplessly. 

“You have to feel for the pins! Don’t turn the file until you feel like you’ve found and lifted the back pin! Ugh, this is like teaching a toddler to backflip off a second story building.” 

“Teaching a toddler to _what?_” Yang really had no idea what she was doing. She felt like she could feel the pins, but had no idea if she was making progress each time she twisted the nail file. “This looks so much easier when they do it on TV. I thought you just had to shove them in there and jiggle them, and the door would magically open.” 

_“No!”_

Yang suffered through quite some time of Blake yelling at her before the door somehow clicked and Yang gently swung it open. Both of them stared in awe for a moment, marvelling in the fact that this had actually worked, before stepping inside hurriedly. 

Blake dashed to a wall on the far side of the storage room, leaving Yang by the doorway. The room was decently sized but quite unremarkable – a lot of smashed shelves and semi-functional chairs, empty cardboard boxes, a couple of magazines and old books. There were no windows and only one other door. Seemed like an alright place to have secret meetings.

Yang followed Blake, who was staring intently at a wall covered in magazine scraps and sharpie markings. None of it made sense to Yang. It looked like someone had given a child a magazine and a glue stick and left them alone for a couple hours. 

“Is there a message here?” Yang very genuinely wondered. 

“Yeah. They’ve abandoned this place. There’s a new address a few blocks away.” Blake kept reading, if that was the right word for however she was getting this information. “V is okay though. It was a bluff, probably to try and unsettle us. We should go to the new location.” Blake paused, and corrected herself. “I should go to the new location.”

“We’re going together.” Yang picked Blake up, just because she wanted to. “Where are we headed?” 

The new location wasn’t far to walk, but they walked slowly, checking behind them often. They came to a strip of abandoned shops much like the ones they had just left, but this one had a bar at one end with lights on and people inside. The instructions Blake read indicated that they should enter the bar.

“This can’t be right… they’d never pick somewhere people still went.” Blake craned her neck, trying to get a peek inside from their vantage point across the road. They could only see silhouettes from where they were. 

“You’re sure you read it right?”

“Definitely. It was written in the same tone Nep always uses and signed off in the same way, too, so I really don’t think it was fake.” 

The two sat for some time, thinking about their next move. Eventually they decided it was worth a shot to walk inside. A girl with a cat would be an odd sight for sure, but if they were wrong, they could always just try and outrun whoever was inside. 

They crossed the road and walked inside, Yang holding Blake in her arms. Heads turned right away, though Yang and Blake certainly had something to look at, too. They were expecting a bunch of big, drunk, burly men to be occupying this shady bar, but instead a wide variety of people were here. Young and old, men and women, all sorts. It looked more like an average gathering place than a seedy bar. 

Yang approached the bar, reciting the code that was in the message. “One Justice Buzz Martini, please.” 

The bartender, the only person in the bar who fit the description of the kind of person they’d expected to see here, grunted knowingly. He grabbed a martini glass and went to pour some alcohol in it before he paused and leaned in close. “Are you actually over 18?” He mumbled. Yang nodded, but realised she’d left her I.D. at home. 

The bartender must have realised too, seeing her pat her pockets and a look of panic cross her face. He poured the drink out anyway and handed it to her. “Let’s not tell the pigs about that one, ey?” He poked his tongue out, then gestured his thumb toward a door by the side of the bar. “That’s where ya want to go. Have a good’un.” 

Yang headed to the door, clutching Blake in one hand and her drink in the other. _Knock sixteen times_, the instructions had said. That seemed excessive. Blake climbed onto Yang’s shoulder to free up one of her hands, and Yang knocked exactly sixteen times. 

A slot at eye-level opened in the door, which Yang hadn’t realised was there a moment ago. A pair of blue eyes met Yang’s. 

The owner of the blue eyes said nothing, a look of surprise evident in them. Yang realised that this person would have no idea who she is, so instead leaned down so Blake could be at the slot. 

“It’s me.” Blake whispered. The blue eyes lit up and the slot closed. A second later the door opened, and Yang and Blake slipped through. 

“Blake?” A spiky-haired blonde asked, closing the door behind them. He looked like Spark, the guy with the monkey mask from the fan videos. He reached forward and picked the cat up off Yang’s shoulder. “So, you’re still a kitty, huh?”

“Yeah.” Blake sighed, but she was smiling. “It’s good to see you, Sun.” _So, his name is Sun. That fits better than Spark._

“Who’s that?” A prickly voice called from behind them. The ponytail girl with patchy skin – Rosa, Yang recalled the fans naming her – had drawn a weapon, something that looked like a spiral sword with a gun handle and was pointing it right at Yang. Yang stood straight and put her hands up. “She shouldn’t be here.”

“Ilia, put that away.” Blake sighed. “This is Yang, I’ve been staying with her while I’ve been… like this. I trust her, don’t worry.” 

The armed girl hesitated but put her weapon away. A blue haired boy – Azure, but that was probably also incorrect – appeared and started petting Blake, chatting with her as he did. After a moment, the ponytail girl caved and also came over for pets. _Kitty Blake’s charm is truly irresistible._

The five of them sat around a round card table. Well, Blake sat on the table to be around the same height as everyone else. Blake filled them in on her life as a cat thus far, and the group filled Blake in on what had been going on. 

Velvet, their informant who had been reported as captured on the news, was okay. Neptune thought the police made the bluff because they were under the impression the group had split up after the failed heist and wanted them to start making panicked moves solo. 

They abandoned their previous meeting place as they wanted to minimise risk of repeating patterns, especially now that the city was on high alert. They locked the doors to prevent random snoops from checking the place out. 

Their new meeting place, the bar they were currently at, was just a casual bar, although the bartender (and bar owner, as it turned out) was also a Faunus descendant. He was more than willing to shelter the group and support their cause however he could. 

Finally, and most excitingly, the crew announced that they were planning to re-heist their last heist. Velvet had been working at it and now had the perfect plan. The plan was, however, quite dependant on Blake being human, as they needed her lockpicking skills to get into the vault again. 

“Exactly a month after touching the artefact, I was able to speak again.” Blake recounted, “I think something else might change after two months, which is in about two weeks’ time.” 

“Luckily, the date Velvet had in mind for heist mark II is over two weeks away.” Sun kicked his heels up onto the table, hands behind his head. “I’m sure you’ll be back to normal by then. Although, I do kind of like you like this.” He grinned widely, and Blake swatted at him. 

“There is another thing that needs addressing.” Ilia, the ponytail girl who seemed like the least trusting and least mum-friend-like person Yang had ever met, glared at Yang again. “What do we do about her?” 

“I told you, we can trust her. I trust her with my life.” Blake glared right back. 

“She could come with us.” Neptune mused aloud, fiddling with the pair of goggles on his head. He pointed at Yang with two finger guns. “Quick, what skills do you have?” 

Sun got in on this immediately, returning to a normal sitting position and lacing his hands together, leaning forward slightly. “Yeah, what makes you think you’re qualified for this position?” 

Somehow, Yang didn’t even think twice before responding to them. “Well, I have a motorcycle. I can drive it really fast and through really small gaps without hitting anything.” 

Neptune and Sun hummed and nodded, Sun waving his hand for Yang to continue.

“I can punch people really hard.” 

They hummed and nodded again, eyebrows raised, still expecting more.

“My puns make people cry.”

“Sold.” “You’ve got the job!” Neptune and Sun said at the same time, Neptune giving a big thumbs up and Sun reaching out to shake Yang’s hand. 

“The most important criterion,” Ilia cut in, seething, “is whether she gives a crap about our cause.” 

“Oh, I give the biggest crap.” Realising what she’d said and ignoring Sun and Neptune’s giggling, she tried again. “I mean. I’m not a descendant of the Faunus, but what has happened to the artefacts is wrong. These people are stealing culturally significant stuff for their own gain and making a profit off it. I’ll admit when I first found out about you guys and about Blake’s involvement, I didn’t really know what to think. But something I’ve learned over the time I’ve known Blake is that I trust her, and I trust her judgement.” Yang looked over at Blake. “You’re doing the right thing. I’d love to help you.”

The date for heist mark II was set; the evening of October 13th. A day after the two-month mark of Blake being turned into a cat. The owner of the vault was hosting a giant gala that evening. 

In the meantime, the crew minus Blake (and Yang) busied themselves with getting ready. Blake and Yang were told to wait it out at Yang’s place and report back to the bar on the day of October 13th, hopefully with a human Blake. The heist would be postponed if she wasn’t human by then. 

So, wait it out they did. Yang took some time to learn more about Faunus history, Blake tried to learn how to use a keyboard with her paws. Blake did not succeed. 

The two went out for lunch a few more times, always to the same place. The waitress knew them now and stopped with the judgemental looks, though she was still confused. 

Blake took Yang to her apartment and showed her all the cool things she’d heisted. Yang took an interest in a set of heavy gauntlets which also fired projectiles. 

All in all, they had a pleasant two weeks. Before they knew it, it was the evening of October 11th. 

Yang could tell that Blake had been tense all day, and her anxiety was increasing by the minute. She was practically vibrating, and not in a cat purring kind of way. 

“What if I don’t turn back tonight?” Blake broke her own tension, looking at Yang wide-eyed. “What if I don’t ever turn back?” 

Yang wasn’t sure what she could say about that. She had no idea if Blake would turn back. She had no idea what to do if she didn’t turn back. Hell, she had no idea what to do if she did. 

“I’m sure you will.” Yang reached across to run her fingers through Blake’s fur. “And if you don’t, you’ve always got a home here.” 

She’d hoped that would be helpful, but Blake still looked deeply concerned. 

Yang pulled Blake into her arms, the cat pliant under her touch, not protesting. Yang scooped her up and stood, switching everything off and carrying Blake to bed. 

“Let’s try and get some sleep. Worrying won’t change anything. Plus, we’ll find out what happens quicker if we sleep. It’s like fast travelling in a video game.”

“I don’t really play video games.” 

Yang sighed, shaking her head as she slid into bed and pulled the blankets over them. “Oh Blake, I have so much to show you.” 

Yang stretched out on her back, limbs splayed about wildly. Blake’s body formed an orderly line down the middle of Yang’s chest. The two fell asleep surprisingly quickly, especially Blake, exhausted from worrying. 

The first thing Yang noticed when she awoke was that it felt harder to breathe. 

The second thing she noticed was that something soft was tickling her nose.

Moving her head to the side, her nose was no longer tickled, but there was a weight on her chest she wasn’t expecting. Blake was probably lying weirdly on her, pressing against her lungs a bit more than usual.

She moved her arms up to move Blake and would have screamed if she weren’t still so groggy. She couldn’t feel Blake’s usual furry softness or slender feline body. What she felt was…

_There’s a person on top of me._

Yang’s eyes darted open and she looked down. Sure enough, the body of a human was on top of her. And not just any human. 

Yang’s eyes followed from the top of her deep black hair, across her back, and even slightly further down before it clicked in Yang’s mind that a) this was Blake, who had turned back into a human, and b) she was naked. 

Blake stirred and looked up at Yang, eyes bleary. They were still that familiar shade of gold, framed by a perfect, pale, yet warm-looking face, and they locked with Yang’s own. 

The effect was immediate. 

Blake, who had come crashing into her life in the form of a little black cat and made her question everything, including her own sanity for a while. Blake, who had made her laugh and cry and worry and smile. Blake, who had put up with her shenanigans and even thrown Yang plenty of her own. 

This girl wasn’t a cat now. She never really had been, Yang thought, she’d just looked like one. But not anymore. 

_Blake…_

Yang looked back up at the ceiling, face bright red as she realised she’d been looking at Blake’s body, and that her hands were still on Blake. Somehow, she couldn’t move them. Her thoughts, however, were very mobile. 

_Shit. She’s really hot._

“Yang? What’s wrong?” Blake asked, not yet moving. Yang looked back down, noticing something odd she hadn’t picked up on before, but now she was surprised she had missed. Right atop Blake’s head, right where Yang remembered them being, were a set of black cat ears. _Well, that’s what was tickling my face. _

“Blake…” Yang had intended to say more but could only manage one breathy call of her name. She was captivated, entranced by the girl on top of her. 

Her tone must have conveyed something as Blake looked down at herself, gasping. “I’m back to normal!” 

“Uh, well, almost normal.” Yang pointed to the ears. 

Blake raised a hand to her head. Feeling the ears, she dashed to the mirror across the room, Yang’s face boiling as she went. 

“Ugh. Well, at least my mask will cover those.” Blake toyed with them in the mirror. Yang was unsure if she’d noticed she was naked or just didn’t care. Yang tried to keep herself from looking, but…

_There’s a hot girl in my room._

_A hot, naked girl._

_And it’s Blake._

_Human Blake. _

_What?!_

Blake turned to face Yang front-on _(oh god)_ and fiddled with her ears, frowning. “What do you think of the ears? Do I look too much like one of those anime cat-girls?”

Yang struggled to form much coherent thought. “I, uh… guh, I don’t… You know, I’m gonna be honest. I’m, uh, I’m not thinking much about the ears right now.” Immediately, she felt like an idiot for saying that, and for implying that she was looking and that it was having an effect on her. 

Blake took that moment to decide to have a sense of modesty, grabbing a shirt from off the ground and throwing it on. It was Yang’s shirt. Yang must have been slightly bigger than Blake, as it looked a bit oversized on her, her legs still completely bare underneath.

_Now she’s wearing my shirt, and only my shirt. This is not helping._

“Alright we’re gonna have to get you some clothes.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake is human! Her and Yang take a hot minute to adjust to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a weird structure because I couldn't choose which POV to run with for the first half, so I chose both. 
> 
> There's a big ol' gap after the line 'Now more than ever, Yang desperately wanted to know what was going on in Blake’s mind.' That's where the POV changes to Blake's and repeats the same sequence of events. The rest of the chapter is a bit more normal (for this fic, at least) after that.
> 
> Hopefully it's not confusing - I don't have an editor (besides my 3am self) so apologies in advance if this is a mess to everyone except me.

That day was an interesting one, Yang thought in hindsight. 

They made a trip to Blake’s apartment to grab some clothes in the morning. Blake’s taste in clothing was pretty much exactly what Yang had expected; mostly black, white, and grey clothing with a splash of purple, and all of it was skin-tight or cropped. Blake changed into an outfit of her own before they headed off. Eyeing the outfit, which hugged every part of her body, Yang came to the realisation that her trains of thought were now dominated by Blake and how goddamned attractive she was. 

There was also some cool stuff around Blake’s apartment – weapons, shields, random knick-knacks, but Yang didn’t pay them much mind. She had other things to stare at. 

They rode on Bumblebee on the way up and back. Both times, Yang was hyperaware of how closely Blake was pressed against her. Holding on tight was the safe thing to do, Yang knew, but still. If she weren’t an amazing and flawless driver this would probably be dangerously distracting. 

When they arrived back at Yang’s she thought she was going to pass out as she walked up the stairs to the front door behind Blake. _Stop looking up, perv_ she kept thinking to herself, but it was no use. _You damn useless lesbian._

Yang suggested they sit down and watch Netflix, a harmless activity, she thought.

How wrong she was. Blake took up more couch space now that she was a human, and sometimes her leg or hand would graze against Yang and her heart rate would skyrocket for a second. _This has got to be bad for my health._

Blake had also picked up her phone from her apartment and was looking at it. While she was doing so, Yang had a lot of time to subtly stare at Blake.

Her features were pretty cat-like even when she was human, Yang almost hated to think. Her face was somehow both round and angular, and her gold eyes had a constant alertness to them, like she was always analysing something. Her hair was the exact same shade as her fur had been, ending at her shoulders. It looked like it would be just as soft, too. 

Even as she just shifted on the couch Yang could see she moved with the kind of grace you’d expect of someone like a dancer, someone who knew their body and what it could do extremely well. She’d seen earlier that Blake was very fit but based on how quickly she’d adjusted to her cat-body and how she’d pulled those ninja moves when they went to the old meeting place, she was probably extremely dexterous. Blake was probably good in combat, too, and an expert lockpicker just as the thieves had said. 

_Good with her hands, hey… _She couldn’t stop herself from thinking. She tried to shoo the thought away, waving her hands above her head like she was clearing a smutty fog from around her. 

She heard Blake laugh from beside her. “What’s that about, Yang?” The smile on Blake’s face when she was laughing, when Yang was the one making her laugh, and she’d even said her name… _I am officially the most useless of lesbians. Lord Sappho take me. _

“Chasing away the gay thoughts.” Yang smiled back habitually. These were the kinds of offhanded remarks she made with her friends, her friends who actually knew she was gay and that she was just being silly. However, she realised as soon as she said it that this time, she actually meant it, and she’d said it to the worst possible person. 

Blake’s eyebrows just raised quizzically. “Are you gay?”

_Oh god oh man oh god._ She wasn’t worried Blake would be weird about it, she knew Blake was a good person and would be chill. She was worried because Blake would probably also disclose her sexuality and there was a chance she might not be gay. Or she could be gay and taken, or gay and just not interested in Yang. Or maybe she was gay and into Yang and then there’d be awkward tension and sure Yang talked a big game but really she had no idea what she would do about that and _oh god. _

“Haha, yeah.” She settled on after a pause that was slightly too long. 

“Oh, cool. I’m bi.” _There’s a chance. _

“Cool.” 

Yang celebrated internally before immediately kicking back into panic mode. She had a flashback to sitting at the bar with the Faunus thieves, seeing the way Blake would interact with Sun. If Blake was bi, there’s a chance she liked Sun. They did seem pretty friendly – he was the one cracking the most banter with her, and he was the first one to pick her up and pet her. She seemed pretty comfortable with him, too. 

Now more than ever, Yang desperately wanted to know what was going on in Blake’s mind. 

Blake’s mind felt like it was on a rollercoaster that day. 

Firstly, she’d woken up _naked and on top of Yang_. As if life hadn’t thrown her enough curveballs yet, it had to go and pull the tablecloth out from under her like that. And, on top of that, Yang had acted extremely strangely since she’d seen Blake as a (naked) human. Blake wasn’t quite sure what to think. At least she was human again.

They went to Blake’s place so she could get some of her clothes. They took Bumblebee, which was convenient but came with its own set of problems. As she climbed on the back, she thought long and hard about where to put her arms. She could wrap them around Yang, meaning she’d have the best chance at holding on as Yang took all those risky corners she so loved, but also, she’d be holding on to Yang _very_ closely. Or, she could hold the sides of the seat instead, making it much easier to lose her balance but she wouldn’t have to address the fact that she’d be holding Yang. 

Before she could decide, Yang revved the engine and Blake’s arms flew around Yang, her body fearfully remembering the last time they’d taken the bike. 

At Blake’s place, she didn’t think much about the clothes she picked up, just throwing whatever was clean into a bag and zipping it up. She grabbed her toothbrush, hairbrush, and a few other human essentials as well as her heisting outfit. Or, most of it. She’d lost the mask in the vault, but Sun had picked it up for her and was hanging onto it for the time being. 

Back at Yang’s, they went back to existing as they usually did; hanging out on the couch with some Netflix. _Except this time,_ she thought with glee, _I have my phone._ She took it out, put it on charge (it was well dead after two months of inactivity) and started mindlessly scrolling, feeling the catharsis right away. No more having to be invested in whatever was going on with the show she only half cared about. 

She noticed a few times that Yang was staring at her. Probably getting used to human Blake, she thought. It’d be a hell of an adjustment, and Yang had already done a lot of adjusting as Blake went from regular cat to talking cat, and now to human with cat ears. 

Blake often thought about how grateful she was for Yang and everything she’d done. But recently, she’d been thinking a bit more about the things Yang hadn’t done. Or, really, the things they hadn’t done together. Her daydreams, and even the dreams she had at night, were starting to be filled with images of herself and Yang. Sometimes doing mundane tasks together with their hands interlocked, sometimes out for a romantic dinner, sometimes doing things rated a little bit above Teen And Up Audiences. Those latter ones were usually night-time dreams, and she’d always wake up pressed against Yang’s chest which did not help.

As she saw Yang staring at her again out of her peripheral vision, Blake wondered if Yang’s feelings toward her had changed since she’d become human. Granted, she had only been human for a few hours, but she couldn’t help but be curious. Would Yang like her more or less now? Was she happy to have a human companion or sad that she no longer had a cat? Blake wondered if being human now opened the doors for some kind of romantic feelings to develop. 

Out of nowhere, Yang started flapping her hands around like she was trying to swat a fly buzzing around her head. 

Blake laughed, her heart warming at Yang’s antics. “What’s that about, Yang?”

Yang paused, looking like a dog who got caught eating food off the bench. She smiled back after a bit. “Chasing away the gay thoughts.” 

Blake had no idea what to do with that statement. _What does that mean? Is she being serious? Am I the cause of the gay thoughts? What is going on?_

She wasn’t sure what else there was to be done except ask; “Are you gay?”

Yang still looked stunned, starting at Blake for a minute. “Haha, yeah.” 

Part of Blake felt a great relief knowing there was some chance Yang could like her. At least, it was confirmed that it might be possible. This wasn’t really evidence either way, but it was still good to know. 

“Oh, cool. I’m bi.” In theory, at least, that was true. She was yet to take the community-mandated bisexuality practical exam; she had only had a boyfriend previously. 

“Cool.” Yang visibly relaxed hearing this. 

The two settled into a classic awkward silence, neither knowing where to go from here. They’d confirmed their mutual interest in girls, but neither knew if that included themselves. 

Blake opted to look back at her phone. She’d probably got as much information as she could for now. It’s not like Yang would just confess her love to Blake mid-conversation. She’d have to just wait and see what happened, if anything.

More pressing was their plans for tomorrow – the heist mark II. The crew had a lot of faith in this plan, and Blake trusted them with her life, but she was still worried. Especially after what happened last time. 

She sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest. She _really_ didn’t want to wind up being a cat again.

Blake, for the first time since she’d been staying with Yang, cooked dinner. _Hands are truly a blessing._

As Yang chose the perfect movie (one of the Bond films, just to stay on theme) Blake placed a plate of lasagne in front of her and sat down with her own. The two mostly ate in silence, Blake using this time to worry even more about the upcoming heist. A few times Blake looked over and saw Yang taking notes from the film. _Oh honey, no._

After dinner and another movie, it was time to head to bed. They were both aware of this, but both delayed mentioning it as then they’d have to talk about sleeping arrangements. 

Blake would obviously not mind their usual sleeping arrangement, sleeping on top of Yang. She’d be extremely flustered the entire time, yes, but that didn’t mean she was against it. She was unsure what Yang would think of this, though. 

After some time of avoiding the subject, they both grew extremely tired. Yang habitually stood and drifted towards bed, stopping in the doorway and looking back at Blake. 

“Might as well keep sharing a bed, right?” Yang’s voice sounded a bit shaky, which might have been due to her tiredness. 

Blake nodded and walked after her, sitting on the side of the bed Yang didn’t sleep on. She rummaged through the bag she’d brought from her place and selected a loose shirt and silky shorts. Remembering the last time Yang had seen her naked, she got changed in the bathroom.

The two got into bed, lying side by side. Though they were very tired, they were also very alert, hyperaware of their situation. 

_I’m in bed with Yang. I’m in bed with Yang. I’m in bed with Yang. _Blake’s mind repeated like a mantra. A very panicky, not at all soothing mantra. She’d been in bed with Yang countless times. Almost every night for two months, in fact. But it felt extremely different now because she was human. Also, because Yang was both attractive and a confirmed gay. 

Blake held to covers tight to her chest. It felt strange being in her own body again, but it felt even stranger not being tangled up with Yang. She’d grown so used to falling asleep in her arms or on top of her. It felt wrong being beside her. It felt empty and cold. 

Blake turned onto her side, looking at Yang. It seemed she’d retained cat night vision as she could clearly see Yang’s face. Her eyes were wide open. She was chewing on her lower lip. Her hands were fidgeting, her tell that she was nervous. 

_Maybe she feels the same way I do._

Riskily, Blake stretched out a hand, touching Yang’s arm gently. The blonde flinched a bit but didn’t pull away.

“Feels weird. Not being close with you at night.” Blake searched Yang’s face for a reaction. Yang’s eyebrows raised a bit, and her eyes looked over towards Blake, not meeting Blake’s. She couldn’t see Blake; it was too dark for her. Blake almost felt like this was an unfair advantage. 

“Yeah…” Yang’s breathing was short, her eyes searching, trying to cut through the darkness. 

Blake ran her hand up Yang’s arm, coming to rest on her bicep. Blake had never really touched Yang before, not properly. Now she had her own hands back and she liked what she felt. Yang was strong, it was evident by looking at her, but the muscle under the skin was more prominent as Blake ran her fingers over it. _She could probably bench press me all day and not break a sweat._ Blake broke a sweat herself thinking about that. 

Feeling bold, Blake inched closer to Yang, shuffling into the middle of the bed. Her body wasn’t pressed against Yang, but it easily could be, it’d only take another inch. She moved her hand from Yang’s arm to her side. She’d intended to slowly snake her arm around Yang’s waist but was stopped as she was distracted by the muscle of Yang’s abdomen. _Damn, Yang._ Blake’s hand lightly kneaded just above Yang’s hip, revelling in the hardened muscle she felt there. She remembered seeing it before when Blake was a cat and they’d showered together – remembered might be an understatement, it was etched into Blake’s long-term memory – but feeling it was something else entirely. Her hands were shaking lightly, and she kept watching Yang’s face for any sign of discomfort. She didn’t find any. 

Remembering her goal, she stretched her arm across Yang and let it rest. After a moment, Yang seemed to relax, wriggling her arm up and under the crook of Blake’s neck, coming to rest across her back, fingers scribbling feathery nothings through Blake’s shirt.

The movement pulled Blake that extra inch closer, and their bodies met, closing the space between them. The front of Blake’s body pressed against Yang’s side, and it felt like two puzzle pieces finally fitting together. It was electric, Blake could practically see it in the air around them. Every inch of her body buzzed with an energy she hadn’t felt before, somehow both tense and relaxed. She wanted to pull Yang even closer, feel skin on skin, have Yang wrapped around her. She felt like her whole body was shaking; Yang felt it too, her face giving everything she felt away. Her eyebrows were furrowed, eyes almost shut, mouth agape in an almost-half-smile as her body reacted to Blake’s. Blake was sure her own expression reflected the same feelings. 

Yang’s other arm came up to stroke Blake’s shoulder, lightly grazing against her skin before snaking down to her waist. Yang’s hand stayed put on the outside of Blake’s shirt, resting in place, not risking the venture to the gap of exposed skin at Blake’s waist. That small space of skin felt like the point of no return – Blake knew that if Yang’s hands snaked up her shirt, pulled her any closer, her thin thread of self-control would snap. 

Yang’s fingers toyed with the hem of the shirt. Blake’s breath quickened, her mind’s eye vividly imagining that hand taking the plunge onto Blake’s heated skin, willing it to both happen and not happen at once. She had no idea which would win out of her current heated state or her nervousness. 

Blake’s attention was snatched from the shirt situation as Yang tilted her head down, her face now extremely close to Blake’s. Subconsciously, Blake tilted her own head up toward her. The distance between them was minimal; the tips of their noses touched lightly, their lips just a brush away from one another. Blake felt Yang’s quick breaths on her lips, her own breaths shaking in response. _I could kiss her right now,_ Blake thought. _It would be so easy. _

So easy, but it felt so hard. Thinking about kissing Yang felt so good, so right, but it felt like doing it might be crossing a border they might not be ready to cross yet. Blake had been human for less than a day. She needed to readjust to that, and Yang needed to adjust to it for the first time. Blake didn’t want to do anything Yang wasn’t ready for or didn’t want to do. For everything that had happened thus far, Blake was still not certain what Yang thought of her or their situation.

Reluctantly, Blake nestled her head into Yang’s shoulder, away from her stupid, gorgeous lips. She forced herself to take slow, deep breaths and steady herself. She felt Yang doing the same. Her tiredness started taking more of a hold now that she was in what was more or less her usual sleeping position. Yang’s arms cradled her, her natural warmth drawing Blake in and keeping her there. Despite the explosion of nerves Blake just experienced, this was what comfort and safety felt like. _This is enough for now.  
_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chap took me forever to write but hopefully the wee bit of spice makes up for it. The next chapter will be more action-y, and possibly the penultimate chapter. We'll see how it goes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We heisting, babey. Bit of action, bit of drama, not that much fluff. Don't fear, the fluff will return shortly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. For those of you that have been keeping up with this fic, you might notice this is a triple chapter drop. This is because I wrote this all at once and had to chop it into nice small bits, else my mind would have imploded at the dreadfully inconsistent chapter lengths. (Spoiler alert; they're still inconsistent, but it's better than posting one 10,000 word chapter)
> 
> There's a POV switch from Blake to Yang at some point, look out for that.

The morning came quickly, the rising sun alerting them that the next day was here – the day of the heist. They headed to bar to meet the rest of the team. Blake had borrowed one of Yang’s beanies to cover the cat ears (she had her own beanies, but Yang offered one of her own and there’s no way she’d refuse that). Some quick experimentation revealed Blake still had feeling in the ears, control over them, and could hear with them. Though they felt like inconveniences now, they would probably come in handy during the heist, as would the night vision. 

They made it to the bar, knocking the required sixteen times. Sun’s eyes greeted them through the slot again, lighting up as he saw human Blake. The door swung open and the two stepped inside, Sun sweeping Blake up in a big hug. Yang appeared to start choking on something as this all happened, but insisted she was fine and didn’t need water. 

The crew was all there, sitting around the card table again. The table was covered in sheets of paper. Blake saw annotated floorplans, schedules, lists, something that looked like tickets. This time, another girl was present – long, auburn hair with bangs over a gentle face that screamed _I am an introvert. _

“Velvet!” Blake rushed over to her, wrapping her up in a hug. “I’m so glad to see you. Especially after that news report.” 

“Yeah, they really misjudged us, hey.” Velvet smiled and gestured to the paper on the table. “Glad to see you’re back to human, too. I heard you made a pretty cute cat, though.” She looked over to Sun, who was grinning cheekily. Blake rolled her eyes, but was smiling, too. Yang started choking again (_ “I’m fine I swear” _). 

Velvet turned back to Blake. “We’ve got a great plan this time. Ready to get into the details?” 

Yang and Blake sat at the table and listened to Velvet run over the plan. 

The patriarch of the manor was hosting a charity gala, which Velvet had managed to get a hold of five tickets to. The thieves were to pose as guests to gain entry. Security would likely be high, especially given that a robbery had already been attempted previously, and that there were going to be many guests present who could all be potential thieves. They all had to be very on guard and act natural, fitting in with the other guests as much as possible.

Each member of the group would be wearing formal evening attire with their heist gear underneath. Some of the group members – mostly Neptune, with his bright blue hair – had very distinguishing features, and so would wear extra disguises like wigs while entering the venue. 

Once inside, they had to ditch the party itself and navigate to the vault. They could likely make their way there with no trouble, but the vault itself proved troublesome last time. Blake thought that the door of the vault set off a silent alarm when it was opened, something that would be extremely difficult to avoid. The internal structure of the vault, which was a very large, dome-shaped room with a maze of shelves, took up so much of their time as they tried to find the artefact they were looking for that the guards all descended on them while they were still inside. They were lucky to have escaped. 

“Why try again, then?” Yang asked. Ilia, to the surprise of no-one, glared at her.

“It’s the most precious artefact the Faunus left behind.” Ilia spat. “It doesn’t belong in his filthy hands. His company is responsible for so much loss of sacred sites, land, and artefacts that belonged to the Faunus. We need this.” 

Yang nodded. She seemed to get it, but Blake also understood her confusion. They’d come so close to being caught last time, and Blake was turned into a cat. This time around would be even harder as the place was now on high alert. The stakes were extremely high. The potential for everything to go very wrong was very real.

As Sun started telling Ilia to chill, Blake leaned over to Yang. 

“It’s not too late to back out.” She hoped Yang wouldn’t leave, if she was being honest with herself. She knew that this scheme had the potential to ruin Yang’s life, ruin all of their lives, but she didn’t want to do anything without Yang by her side now. _That’s probably selfish of me_, Blake thought, scanning Yang’s face for any sign of reservations or doubt. 

“I’m not going anywhere.” Yang placed her hand on Blake’s. “I want to help you. All of you. Plus,” she looked over to Ilia, making sure she was still occupied with Sun, “this all sounds, like, super cool. I’ve always wanted to do something stupid and dangerous.” 

Blake scoffed. “You do every day. I’ve seen the way you drive Bumblebee.” 

“Hey, that’s irrelevant.”

There were a few finer details discussed with team members with the relevant skills. Velvet also sat with Yang, explaining heist fundamentals from a don’t-get-caught perspective. 

The group was feeling pretty okay about the heist, all things considered. Last time they’d tried was a randomly selected night, meaning the guards had nothing else to focus on. This time, they were confident that the guards’ split attention would work to their advantage. 

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Neptune approached Yang, holding out his hands. He was holding a pair of orange goggles like his own. “Every team member gets a mask. Or, some other identity-hider for us non-Faunus. Here.” 

Yang took the goggles, trying them on immediately. Her face did not hide her excitement at all, her grin wide and giddy. 

The team buzzed around for a bit, getting some drinks and snacks from the bar and running over plans. Neptune spent most of the time whining about how itchy his head was as he’d put on a dark brown wig to cover his signature (and very non-stealthy) electric blue hair. Soon enough, it was time to head to the gala. 

In addition to an ear-concealing fascinator, Blake was wearing a floor-length black gown which fitted her form well. Her heist gear was on underneath – it was basically a skin-tight sleeveless catsuit with a few pockets and pouches containing her lockpicking tools and some knives. Yang had stolen more than a few glances when Blake was waltzing around in it. 

Velvet had somehow provided heist equipment for Yang, too. Blake had no idea how she’d known Yang’s measurements, but she’d stopped questioning how Velvet did the things she did long ago. 

Yang was provided with her own very tight suit, complete with hidden knives. Blake had to admit she’d also stolen some glances as Yang tested out her range of movement in it. Blake had seen her in tight shorts and even seen her naked before, but the way the slinky black material clung to her thighs was…

Blake had to excuse herself to the bathroom to cool off. 

When she returned, Yang had slipped a sunflower yellow dress over the top, swirling around in it gleefully. The fabric clung tight around her chest and waist, and Yang’s genuine joy at being in a pretty dress radiated from her in waves. _This isn’t any less attractive, damnit. _

The five headed out, stepping into a limousine Velvet had somehow prepared to take them. Blake slid in between Sun and Yang, the latter glancing across every so often, looking equal parts excited and worried. Blake kept smiling back at her with as much warmth as she could, putting a hand on her leg for encouragement. Well, it had been intended for encouragement, but Blake soon found herself keeping her hand there for rather selfish reasons. 

The car rolled up to the mansion and Blake felt her stomach backflip. She’d felt pretty calm about their plans for the most part, but seeing this place again reminded her of how close they’d come to being busted last time. The impossibly tall white gates and columns felt more like prison bars than décor. 

They stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the front door. Two white-coated staff members opened the car doors, allowing the five to step out. They were greeted, and Neptune showed their tickets. Everything checked out and they headed inside, stepping into a sea of obscenely expensive suits, gowns, and art installations. 

The first and only room they entered seemed to be a grand ballroom-style room, complete with an extremely high ceiling and chandelier. The room was very large and twin staircases wrapped around the far sides of the room, a balcony resting at the top to provide even more space. They’d arrived around 8, and the place was steadily getting more packed, the well-dressed people having to sidestep past one another to reach the hors d'oeuvres, some of which were neatly arranged on white tables and others carried on platters by white-suited waiters. 

Blake immediately scanned the room for the owner. He would stand out right away, with his distinguishing features and trademark arrogant scowl. Though, it’d likely be a smile tonight. He was hosting, after all. 

Before she could spot him, Yang nudged her and leaned over. “Hey, Weiss is here!” 

Blake immediately recalled Yang’s friend who had stopped by that one time, that girl with the white hair and white clothes. Very distinguishing features, with a trademark arrogant… _Wait. _

Blake whipped around to face the direction Yang was looking. Sure enough, by the foot of a lavish water feature, there was Weiss, conversing with a boy around her age. Beside each of them were taller, older men with moustaches and knowing grins. The man beside Weiss looked just like her – white hair, white clothes, blue eyes, and the kind of body language designed to make those around them feel poor and inadequate. _Oh no. _

“Uh, Yang, I don’t know how to tell you this, but…” Blake kept her eyes on the old man, watching him as he looked down at his daughter. “We’re robbing your friend’s dad.” 

The four thieves and one thief-to-be stood in a close circle, as far out of the line of Jacques Schnee’s sight as they could manage. Yang hadn’t said much since Blake had told her they were stealing from Weiss’ family. _Guess I don’t know that much about Weiss_, Yang thought. She knew the girl came from a lot of money of course, she made that clear often, but to be hosting such a huge, wanky gala was something else. 

“We don’t seem to have been noticed yet,” Ilia said, sipping a glass of wine she’d been handed at some point. “So long as we stay out of Jacques’ way, we should be fine until 9 o’clock. He and some guards are likely the only ones who know us.”

“We should also steer clear of his daughter.” Blake said, her voice deadpan. “Yang knows her.” 

Ilia’s eyes shot daggers at Yang, something she was quickly getting used to. “You know Weiss Schnee?” Her tone was also like shooting daggers. Yang wondered which had more daggers; all their concealed knives combined or Ilia’s demeanour around Yang. 

“I know her from uni, yeah.” Yang looked back at Ilia, trying to seem on the passive side for once. The site of their planned heist was not the place to get into a heated argument. “It’s no big deal. I’ll just stay away from her.” 

“You better.” Ilia looked at each member of their circle, her eyes lingering on Blake. “She could ruin this for us.” It was unclear whether Ilia meant Weiss or Yang, but Yang assumed that was the point. Blake just rolled her eyes and grabbed a glass of wine from a passing waiter. 

Yang spent most of the evening looking over her shoulder for Weiss and Jacques. Fortunately, Weiss and Jacques spent a lot of time together, which Yang thought was strange. Yang and Weiss weren’t best friends by any means, but they’d been out drunk together and shared too much information before. Yang knew that Weiss deeply, deeply hated her father. Yang didn’t know the specifics, but watching Weiss and Jacques interact with the other party guests gave her some idea of the dynamic.

They spent most of their time talking to other business-looking men with what Yang assumed was their sons. It seemed like Jacques was showing her off to these guys and their sons, probably in the hopes that Weiss would pick one her father approved of to carry on the family business. Yang chuckled to herself a bit in her knowledge that Weiss was actually gay and these men would be sorely disappointed before the chuckle turned into worry. Either Jacques didn’t know this about Weiss, or he knew and didn’t care. Either way, it put Weiss in a bad situation. 

Before Yang could think about that much further, Blake grabbed her arm and tugged her along. “Showtime.” 

The ballroom they had spent the evening in was full. The group had some trouble staying together as they weaved through the crowd towards a set of doors by the kitchen, their exit point for this room. Sun led the way with Ilia following behind the group, both keeping their eyes peeled for anyone watching their movements. Yang kept her head down, following close behind Blake, praying Weiss wouldn’t spring up at the last second. Fortunately, Sun and Neptune slipped through the doors with no issue, and Ilia gave the all clear for Blake and Yang to follow. 

The doors they’d entered led down a series of hallways, but the area just inside this door wasn’t monitored like most of the others. Here, they shed their eveningwear and donned their masks. Yang felt like she was in a movie in her goggles and spandex, following the others as they crept through the hallways. She spent most of her time creeping around focussing on being light on her feet. Blake had apparently told Velvet that Yang was a bit of a stomp-walker, and Velvet had given her some pointers on moving quietly. 

Neptune had done away with the wig as quickly as possible and was at the front of the group with Sun, clicking away on a little device. Sun had somehow gotten away with passing his bizarre shapeshifting staff as a walking cane, and now had it out in gun-form. Blake kept her hands close by the knives at her hips, watching their surroundings carefully. Yang couldn’t see Ilia, but knew she was behind them all, keeping their tails covered. Yang felt comfortable not doing much except keeping quiet for now. Blake trusted these guys, and Yang trusted Blake, so it’d be fine. 

They didn’t cross paths with any guards, guests, or alarm systems. Velvet had really done her homework this time, it seemed. They snaked through long hallways, going up and down stairs, sometimes feeling like they were doubling back on themselves, and honestly Yang got lost a few times. Fortunately, everyone else had far better memories and more experience than Yang, and they soon found themselves at what appeared to be a dead end. A large painting of a white suit of armour with both hands on the pommel of a sword, tip touching the ground, faced them from the end wall. A plaque underneath simply read _ “The White Knight”. _

“This is it.” Blake said simply, Sun and Neptune standing aside and letting Blake approach. She poked around the edges of the painting carefully, barely touching it. “Last time we set off a silent alarm by mistake. I’m not sure what exactly triggered it. I’ll need a few moments to check it out and see if I can avoid or disable it.” 

Neptune stayed close by Blake, pointing his device at a few points of interest every now and then. Sun and Ilia kept watch down the hall behind them, Sun staying closer to the group and Ilia heading further back the way they had come, rounding the last corner they had turned to keep watch. Yang didn’t want to distract Blake or Ilia, so decided to stand beside Sun. 

He smiled brightly at her as she approached. “So, how you liking the criminal life so far?” 

“It’s… different.”

Sun laughed a little. “Yeah, it takes a while to get used to.” 

Even though she was balls deep in an organised crime heist and she could at any moment be arrested, or stabbed, or shot by a guard, or anything else that could ruin her life, Yang wanted more than anything to ask Sun if he and Blake were dating, or banging, or mutually crushing on one another, or anything else that would break Yang’s heart. _ Priorities, who? _

She settled instead on vaguing about the entire group, asking how Sun knew them all, even though Blake had already told Yang how they met. 

“We met at a protest actually, but we don’t know each other all that well. Except for me and Nep, we’re dating, but don’t tell the cops that if we get sprung.” 

_Oh. _

_The crazy internet fans were right._

_…That’s one less thing to worry about, then. _

“Don’t worry, I got you.” And she meant it. The simultaneous effect of learning that Sun was both not a threat to her crushing on Blake and a fellow gay filled Yang with a strong sense of solidarity. Sun had been exceptionally friendly to her since she’d come along with Blake to their meetings and was quick to support letting Yang come to this heist. Blake seemed to get along really well with him, too, so he was probably cool. He seemed like a pretty good guy, Yang thought. 

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Ilia bolting down the hallway toward them. “Guys, we’ve got-”

She was cut off by Weiss Schnee rounding the corner behind her. “Company? Yeah, you do.” 

“Ah, shit.” Sun readied his guns but didn’t point them at Weiss. Yang saw Neptune appear beside Sun, pulling out a gun of his own. Blake didn’t show, probably working on the vault still. 

Ilia stopped beside Neptune and Weiss stood before the four of them. “You’re those failed thieves from last time, aren’t you? Looks like you’ve got a new recruit.” Weiss looked at Yang, seemingly not recognising her. Yang didn’t think the goggles would conceal her identity much, but they seemed to be doing the trick here. There was no look of recognition from Weiss at all. 

“What’s your plan, Schnee?” Ilia drew her own weapon, a long whip-like blade thing that Yang didn’t fully understand. “Stalling for time while the guards come? Calling daddy to come catch the bad guys?” 

“No, actually.” Weiss took a few steps closer to Ilia, drawing an elegant silver rapier from her side as she did so. “It’s usually servant work, but this time I think I’ll exterminate these vermin myself.” She lunged forward, steel clanking against steel as Ilia parried a blow from Weiss’ sword at the last second. The two engaged immediately, dancing around each other, clings and grunts filling the hallway. 

Sun, Neptune, and Yang stepped far back from the action. Neptune held his gun in front of him, watching the two dash about. They were almost a blur. “They’re moving too fast. I can’t get a clear shot on Schnee without hitting Ilia.” 

“Don’t try.” Sun put a hand across Neptune’s chest. “We’ll just have to wait. Trust her.”

Yang watched, bewildered, as she saw her friend from class holding her own in an intense sword fight. Against a wanted thief. In her dad’s giant mansion. While Yang was trying to steal from her. Meanwhile, cracking into a vault behind Yang was a girl who just a few days ago was a talking cat. _What is my life? _

Weiss seemed to be gaining some ground on Ilia, pushing her slowly back toward the wall. Ilia looked like she was low on stamina, her movements slowing, parries coming out later. Weiss lunged forward and Ilia stepped back to avoid it, only to slam against the wall. Her dodge cut short, she didn’t move out of the way of Weiss’ sword in time, and it sliced through Ilia’s skin. 

Ilia yelped, staggering to the side, but stayed standing. Weiss had only pierced her bicep, but it was bleeding, running down her arm. 

Weiss pulled back, poised to stab Ilia again. “You can give up now. I’ll deal with your comrades, then escort you all to my father. The authorities will deal with you in the manner you deserve, I’m sure.” 

“Uhh, we’ve got guns.” Sun was aiming his at Weiss’ back.

“Yeah, I think it’s you who should be giving up.” Neptune aimed at Weiss, too. 

Weiss turned slowly, stepping away from Ilia. “Yes, you’ve brought guns to a sword fight, it seems. How inappropriate. Rest assured, I can do away with the two of you with little trouble, guns or no.” 

Sun and Neptune readied themselves, as did Weiss, sword held high and tip pointed toward the two boys. Yang’s blood ran cold. She had no idea who would win or how far either party would go, but she didn’t want to wait to find out. 

“Wait!” She called, all eyes turning to her. She knew this was potentially a terrible idea, and this could ruin everything just like Ilia had feared, but she had to try. “Weiss, stop. Please listen.” She stepped toward Weiss, who pointed her weapon at Yang defensively. Yang put her hands up, showing she was unarmed, before reaching up and pulling the goggles from her face. 

“Yang?” Weiss nearly dropped her rapier. “What? You… what?” 

“Do you know what it is that these guys tried to steal from your father last time?” 

Weiss looked as though she were about to quickly retort but stopped, thought for a moment. “Well, no, but I assume it was something valuable.” 

“Yes, it’s something extremely valuable. Valuable to the Faunus.” As well as she could, Yang explained to Weiss that the group were trying to take back things that had been stolen from them and other Faunus descendants, their heritage treated like a novelty by the wealthy who didn’t truly respect where the items had come from. Sun and Neptune chimed in every so often, further telling of the impact something like this had on an entire community, even though it might seem like just a few replaceable objects to those from outside the culture. Much to everyone’s surprise, Weiss listened as they spoke. Yang had no idea how convincing this would be, though. She had seemed pretty pissed off when she was chasing and fighting Ilia. 

When they felt like they’d explained enough, they paused and waited. Weiss seemed to have been thinking quite hard the entire time they spoke. Yang’s heart was beating incredibly fast. She’d revealed her own identity to Weiss here. Her fate was in Weiss’ hands. Potentially all their fates were. 

“My whole life, people have been trying to steal from my family in some way or another.” Weiss toyed with the hilt of her weapon. “You see the news reports, but you don’t see the real effect it has. Smashed glasses, sleepless nights, a family torn apart by conflict. My father would not stand for it if you took something from him. He’d hunt you down, and he’d give anything to have that revenge. It would consume him. And the collateral damage here, for those of us that live with him…” Weiss trailed off, clutching her weapon and raising it again. “I can’t let you do this.” 

Yang thought back to the times she’d seen Weiss at the gala earlier. Jacques parading her around in front of the eligible bachelors, descendants of other rich men, the strictly professional look Weiss gave each of them as she smiled through conversations about the economy or whatever rich people talked about. All the while, the undertone was clear; Weiss was to choose one of these men, no matter how little she really wanted to. There was no way Weiss wanted to be there, but she was there anyway. She was afraid of her father. Afraid to tell him no. 

“Don’t you want to do something to spite your father?” Yang tried, feeling her skin crawl with nerves immediately. This was a risky topic, and Yang had to push the right buttons. She felt bad for even suggesting it, knowing there could be terrible consequences for Weiss, but the stakes were high for her and the thieves as well. She guessed that Weiss would enjoy doing something to inconvenience her father, even if it meant consequences later. Hopefully she was right.

Weiss stared at Yang, not responding. Yang continued. “This is the single most expensive piece of Faunus history. Sure, he’d be angry and stomp around the place after losing it, but it would also cost him big time. He’d probably have his reputation damaged letting someone steal from him. Imagine how embarrassing that would be for him. You can make it happen, and he will never know it was you. All the surveillance is turned off between here and the ballroom, and we sure as hell don’t plan on talking to him anytime soon. You just have to walk away.”

Weiss was obviously trying to keep her face unreadable, but the conflict was clear to Yang. Weiss potentially had a lot to lose if she let this happen, and a huge fight on her hands if she didn’t. She could lie to them and call for help later, but then she’d be sacrificing a rare chance to spite her father indirectly. Yang wasn’t sure what she’d pick if she was in Weiss’ position. 

Weiss slid her weapon back into place at her side. “The vault has a silent alarm. It triggers when pressure is relieved between the painting and the wall. It can be bypassed by flipping a switch elsewhere in this hallway before moving the painting.” She stared directly at Yang, gaze boring through her. “I’m going to pay hell for this, even if it’s not traced back to me. You better be sure this is worth it to you.” With that, she walked back down the hallway. 

Ilia stood, Neptune tearing a scrap of fabric from his clothes and wrapping it around her arm. Her bleeding had stopped – the cut wasn’t deep. Yang put her goggles back on.

“Who would have thought a Schnee would have a shred of empathy?” Ilia wondered, flexing her arm a few times to test the mock bandage. 

“Well, she ended up agreeing out of spite for someone she hates more than us, so I don’t know if that counts as empathy. But we’ll take it.” Sun said, watching as Weiss disappeared around the corner. 

Blake appeared beside them, gesturing towards another painting on one of the side walls. “I found the switch she mentioned. Let’s go.” 

The group circled around the White Knight painting. Blake had activated the switch and picked through the combination. Sun and Neptune stepped forward and helped her swing the vault door open. 

The heavy door creaked open slowly. Inside, Yang saw shelves as high as the ceiling filled with all sorts of expensive looking things you’d imagine one would find in a vault – gems, jewellery, paintings, random things which looked really old. 

They stepped inside, peering around the corners. The stuff seemed to go on forever, the shelves endless. Yang recalled Velvet showing them a map of the vault’s inside, a maze of shelves and goods. It was much more intimidating in person.

Sun led the way, knowing which way to go from studying Velvet’s map. The rest followed in their designated order, not touching anything they passed. They had one goal, and they were going to complete it and get out as quickly as possible. 

They rounded several bends which Yang recognised and several more she didn’t. One thing she had learned was that she needed to improve her memorisation skills to be a good heistess. The others seemed to have no trouble, their vast experience evident as they confidently snaked through the winding shelves, not making a sound. It was still a conscious effort for Yang to not walk heavy-footedly through the place. 

Sun stopped them as they came to a bend which felt like it was in the middle of the vault. He peeked his head around the corner, leaning back and giving a thumbs up. They stepped around and saw a clearing in the middle of the shelves. A waist-high, rectangular pedestal sat in the middle of a circular space. Inside glass casing sitting atop the pedestal was what looked like… a serving tray? 

“Uh, what is that?” Yang couldn’t stop herself from asking. Her tone probably sounded disrespectful, but she was just… very confused. 

“That is the tray used by the wife of the first High Leader of the Faunus. She used it to defeat the winged demon Yuma in battle to defend their home.” Blake said, circling the glass. “This is what we’re here for.” 

“…huh. Okay.” Yang walked a bit closer. “No offense, but this seems like just a random piece of kitchenware. Strange thing to make magical.” 

“No one is sure how it turned out to be magical. Archaeologists thoughtlessly grabbed it thinking it was something mundane. Turns out it’s far from mundane.” 

Yang stared at the item. She thought this priceless Faunus artefact would have been a sword, or a mask, or a banner, or something cool. Turns out, it was a tray. One regular piece of kitchen equipment had almost cost this group their livelihoods and had turned Blake into a cat. It seemed strange that something so… well, boring-looking, could wield so much power. 

Blake’s hands entered her field of vision, a small, precise-looking blade in her hands. She pressed the tip to the glass. 

As she did, a series of sounds came from above them. They all looked up. From hatches in the ceiling which had previously been sealed and unseeable, guards descended, dropping onto the floor around them. There were about twenty of them, Yang thought, all crowded into the space surrounding the tray and the few walkways leading out from it. Every guard had a gun and every gun was pointed toward them. 

“Thieves! You’re surrounded! Drop your weapons and put your hands up!” One guard demanded. 

“Shit, they came out of nowhere!” 

“This wasn’t in the schematics!” 

“There’s so many of them!”

“What do we do?!” 

Sun and Neptune were panicking, looking between one another and the guns trained on them. Ilia swore under her breath and sighed. Blake had stopped her work, too, looking at Yang instead. Tears were in her eyes. 

“Stand down, thieves! Weapons on the ground!” 

None of the group moved, none willing to accept that they’d completely lost this time. This was it; it was over. They’d all go to prison. Their lives as they knew them were gone. They failed again.

“Last warning, thieves!”

Yang looked at the artefact. All this trouble for a magical serving tray. It was almost funny. Five people had been willing to sacrifice everything for one tray that had done nothing but turn a girl into a cat… 

Yang’s train of thought came to a screeching halt. _Holy shit. What if…_

Yang turned to Blake, the latter with tears threatening to spill over. “Do you trust me?” 

Blake half smiled, a tear trickling down one cheek. “Of course. Why?” 

“I’ve got a _really_ risky idea.”

The sky outside the Schnee manor was dark. Night-time had fallen hours ago, and clouds were descending. It was set to be a rainy day tomorrow and the clouds were arriving early for a wet morning. Onlookers would say the night looked peaceful.

Onlookers would be wrong, as it turned out. The peace of the evening was abruptly shattered by the western wing of the Schnee manor quite literally erupting. Debris shot out in every direction, a deafening roar pierced the night, and quite the sight beheld any who happened to be looking. 

Shooting upward into the sky, breaching above the layer of cloud and levelling out into a gentle glide was a massive golden dragon, kitchen tray in its mouth and four people sitting on its back. Blake sat at the front, right at the base of its neck. She couldn’t help but laugh. Cackle, even, with relief and wonder that this had somehow worked – the guards and the vault were left in their rubble, the Schnee manor now far behind them and the artefact in safe hands (well, jaws). She heard Sun and Neptune laughing along behind her, and tears of relief streamed freely down her face. 

Blake leaned forward and stroked the dragon’s shimmering golden scales. There was blood trickling down its arm, skin cut up from punching through the glass around the tray. The dragon craned its head around and smirked. Although Blake couldn’t speak to her right now, she knew exactly what Yang was trying to say. _Told you I’d be a dragon. _


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone deals with the fallout of Yang being a dragon.

The next few days were a whirlwind of activity. The tray was safely transported to Blake’s house and kept inside a large tub so no accidental touches could happen. Yang was about the size of a small house so she could obviously not be in the city or anywhere near civilisation at all – fortunately, there was a national park only about 45 minutes from the city with difficult hiking trails almost nobody walked. This was Yang’s home until they figured out how to cure the curse, which Velvet thought was possible. Waiting two months or more would be very risky. Discovering a real dragon would send the entire world into a frenzy, as well as put the thieves in danger of being exposed and losing the artefact. Fortunately, no authorities had no leads on who the thieves were, though their faces were plastered all over the news again.

Velvet, Neptune, and Blake were hitting the books hard, scouring every inch of Faunus history for writings about the artefact. There had to be some way to end its effects early, and it’d likely be found in writing if anywhere.

Ilia was oddly sympathetic towards Yang since the night of the heist, possibly for pulling two extremely risky moves and having them pay off. The heist had been a success thanks to Yang’s quick, yet wildly outlandish thinking. The rest of them would possibly have been stopped by Weiss, and if not by Weiss then definitely by the guards’ ambush in the vault, which the group didn’t think Weiss was involved with. Yang had overcome them both, putting herself at extreme personal risk while being largely protective of the others in doing so. As a result of this new positive outlook on Yang, Ilia often took supplies out to her. 

Sun was out and about following up on any leads that Blake and co found in their reading. So far, he’d been led to nothing but gravestones, clueless descendants, and false hope. 

Blake visited Yang most days. Yang couldn’t talk or write or really communicate at all, so Blake would talk at her about the progress they’d been making on finding an antidote. She made sure to always sound hopeful and end on a positive note, but as soon as she left she’d feel down again. It was possible they’d just have to wait and hope nothing awful happened to Yang, that they wouldn’t turn up to the national park and she was gone. 

She’d moved back into her own apartment. Kind of. It felt too weird being in Yang’s without Yang. The place felt empty, not like home anymore. Her own place didn’t feel like home, either. Somewhere along the way, the word _home_ started to feel synonymous with Yang. Blake found herself spending a lot of nights staying up late at the bar, poring over barely legible texts and ordering a few too many espresso martinis to try stay awake. More often than not, she’d fall asleep with her face pressed against a book she’d usually have far too much respect for to even touch with her bare hands. 

“No luck with that old lady, either.” Sun sighed, plonking onto a chair, deflated after another dead-end lead. Blake was the only other one at the bar, nose in a book. Physically in the book, that is. She had fallen asleep on it, jolting awake and sitting up straight as Sun announced his arrival. 

Blake craned her neck and arched her back, feeling her bones pop. She’d been sitting in this same position for over a week now, only ever leaving to shower, visit Yang, and sometimes sleep in a bed if she felt like treating herself, which was not often. She felt entirely responsible for Yang’s current condition. If she hadn’t gotten Yang caught up in all of her mess, Yang would still be human. She’d be sleeping in her own place instead of outside in the cold and dark on some random hiking trail, hoping to god that nobody happens to walk past and spot the several ton bright gold dragon just hanging out by the side of the path. Who knows what would happen if Yang was spotted? She could have been found out already in the few hours it had been since Ilia had last dropped off supplies. Anything could happen, and anything that did happen would be Blake’s fault. 

“Dude, take a breath.” Sun could obviously tell Blake had started psyching herself out again, coming over and putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be okay. We’re getting closer every day, with every new thing we read and every person we talk to.” He stepped behind her, his other hand grasped her other shoulder, and he rubbed his thumbs in wide circles across Blake’s upper back. She was so tense her pores could spit out diamonds. “She’ll be okay.”

Blake had spent that night in her bed. Not by choice, as Sun had ordered her an Uber and shoved her in it, but her body was glad to be there nonetheless. Early the next morning, she headed off to see Yang. 

The mountain track Yang was residing near really was quite difficult. It wound up the side of a mountain, taking steeper slopes and crossing a deep river before levelling out into a small meadow nestled about halfway up. 

Tree canopies shied away from each other but largely concealed the meadow from aerial view. A few rocks were scattered about, a trace of a path winding between them. The grass was long and wispy in most parts, charred in others. And, most strikingly of all, a golden-scaled dragon was curled up like a cat underneath a sturdy looking tree. ‘Underneath’ is used loosely here; lying down, the side of the dragon just about reached the canopy of the trees. Standing, its head would surely tower far above the top of the forest. 

Blake approached slowly. She wasn’t afraid of Yang, but she was concerned about startling her or spending too much time directly in Yang’s blast zone. Apparently, in addition to (sort of) existing, dragons really did breathe fire, sometimes accidentally. Yang had always been a loud sneezer, but this was on a whole new level. 

Blake sat beside Yang on a rock by her chest. Yang’s neck was stretched out, head on the ground. The dragon was sleeping.

Just being near Yang felt comforting, even if she was in the body of a giant flying lizard. She guessed this was only fair; Blake had been a cat when they’d first met, after all. Yang had dealt with that expertly, but definitely had an advantage since animal-Blake could fit inside a house without raising any questions. 

Blake put the bag she was carrying down beside her. It just had sandwiches and fruit in it, nothing terribly exciting. Ilia brought Yang a lot of food already. Blake mostly just wanted an excuse to see Yang. _You don’t need one_, Yang’s voice was clear in her mind, knowing exactly what she would say. Blake knew she didn’t, but lately it felt like she did. 

“Hey,” Blake said softly, watching for a reaction from Yang. Her voice was hushed, not wanting to disturb the sleeping dragon but also not being able to stop herself from talking. “No luck with the search, yet. Velvet and Sun are hopeful something will turn up, but… It feels like we’re looking for something that might not even exist. The Faunus have been gone for generations. It’s likely there’s no one left who knows their secrets.” 

Yang’s chest rose and fell steadily, the grass around her snout rustling as she exhaled. Blake looked away, trying to focus on something else. “Yang… I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” She craned her neck up, looking to the tree canopy, trying to will herself not to cry. She’d been doing that too much lately. 

“I should never have dragged you into all of this. You’d still be you if it weren’t for me. It’s not safe for you to be like this, but there’s nothing I can do.” Blake’s voice wavered and she stopped herself, taking a breath and looking back at Yang. She hadn’t moved. 

Blake sighed. Even as an enormous, fire-breathing beast, Yang looked so peaceful when she slept. Blake remembered the rise and fall of her chest lulling her to sleep when she was a cat, and her entire body could fit on top of Yang with no problem. She laughed a little to herself. _ My whole body could fit on her chest again with no problem, now. _

Clearing her throat and rubbing her face, she opened the bag at her feet and took the food out. She stood and placed it on the rock she had been sitting on, zipping the bag back up and heading back down the track, looking tearfully back over her shoulder as she went. 

“Sun said he had a good feeling about this one.”

“Sun has a good feeling about everything.”

“Yeah, but he sounded really excited this time.” 

Blake groaned, picking herself up from her daydreaming position slouched across the table. She’d been enjoying tormenting herself with hypothetical scenarios of scientists finding Yang and experimenting on her. Neptune wasn’t having it, poking at her and urging her to get up and be presentable for when Sun and his lead showed up. 

Sun heard from his friend’s uncle’s girlfriend’s neighbour’s second cousin twice removed, or something like that, that there was a guy who knew a lot of Faunus history and talked about magic and fairy tales a lot. Blake was willing to bet on it being some random crazy guy babbling about nonsense, but apparently Sun was adamant that this was going to lead somewhere. He was bringing the guy by to meet the crew and see if he was legit. Velvet was excited. Ilia was sceptical. Blake was exhausted. 

Sixteen knocks rang through the small room off the side of the bar. Neptune peeked through the slider, making a little kissy noise and he closed it and opened the door. The others probably didn’t hear it, but Blake’s cat ears did come in handy every now and then. 

Sun stepped into the room, followed by what definitely looked like the kind of crazy person Blake had imagined. He was tall and skinny with unkempt, scruffy stubble. He slouched forward, hands in his pockets, and looked like he thought the world owed him something. His black hair was smoothed down at the front but wild in the back, and as he saw the small group of early twenties looking and clearly judging him, he pulled a flask from his coat and took a swig. 

“Guys, this is Qrow. He knows a lot about Faunus history and says he knows about the artefact as well!” Sun looked ecstatic. He was the only one.

“Alright.” Ilia stood, walking cautiously towards Qrow and Sun. “Tell us what you know.” 

“Tell me who’s asking. This little punk didn’t tell me much, just that he was dragging me to a bar.” Qrow scanned the people in the room in front of him. As he did, Blake felt she had misjudged him a bit. Despite his appearance, he seemed bright, alert, thoughtful. “No, wait. Never mind, I know exactly who you are. And from that, I can put together why you brought me here.” 

Everyone tensed. If this guy was a narc, they were screwed. 

Ilia kept her composure. “What do you mean, ‘who we are’?” 

“It’s obvious. Gang of youths with colourful hair, dingy hideout, asking about the most sought-after piece of Faunus history for no apparent reason which was recently reported stolen. Plus, that girl straight-up has cat ears.” Blake tried to shrink herself. _How could I forget to put on a hat?! _ “You’re the ones who stole the tray from Jacques Schnee.” 

Blake felt her hand inch toward her knife. She saw Neptune and Sun move their hands toward their guns from behind Qrow.

“So, what if we are?” Ilia tried keeping her voice steady, but Blake knew she was nervous. They all were. This guy could be real trouble. 

Qrow was unreadable, taking a few steps closer towards Ilia. His face was serious, tone steady, body language unpredictable, especially as he was swaying slightly, probably from the flask. 

“Well, then I guess I’d better thank you.” 

_…huh? _

All hands previously heading towards weapons paused. 

“What?” Ilia’s voice gave away her surprise. 

“Schnee is a real piece o’ work.” Qrow pulled out a vacant chair with his foot, swinging it far out from the table and slumping down in it, flask in hand. “He’s been giving my employer and his buddies a rough time for a while, now. Anything that causes him strife is a blessing to us.” Qrow took a long swig, sighing and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “Plus, I’m no Faunus, but I know my fair share of world history. You guys are fighting the good fight, so kudos to you.” 

Relief aside, it was still uncertain whether Qrow would be useful. If he wasn’t a Faunus, he wasn’t likely to know the information they needed. 

“So, if you know why we’ve brought you here, can you help?” Blake asked, leaning forward.

“Yeah, I think I can. A couple cat ears never killed anyone, but I reckon we can sort you out.” 

“It’s not just me we’ve brought you here to help.”

The group plus Qrow crossed the meadow that Blake had grown very familiar with. The giant golden mountain that was Yang came into view immediately. Qrow stopped for a long drink before following everyone else over. 

“So, the artefact can turn people into non-existent animals as well? Interesting.” He eyed Yang, walking around her, her giant neck craning around to follow him as he did. She was poking at him with her snout, seemingly very interested in him. She grunted at him a few times but didn’t seem to be feeling hostile. 

“Can you help?” Blake wasn’t interested in bringing people to see Yang like she was an exhibit. She wanted her back to normal. 

“Yeah, I know how to fix this.” He walked back to the group, hands on his hips. “But you might not like the answer.” 

“Whatever it takes, I’ll do it.” Blake was ready for whatever needed to be done. She would fix this. She would make it right. Yang deserved it. 

“Well, a lot of Faunus history is mixed in with modern fairy tales. It’s not hard to trace where certain traditions and clichés come from if you pick up a history book every now and then.” Qrow sauntered over to a rock, sitting on it and crossing his legs. “Like with most curses you hear about as a kid, this one is solved by love. More specifically, true love’s kiss.” 

Blake’s stomach backflipped immediately. _True love… that couldn’t be me, right? _ Her mind flew back to their night in bed where they’d almost kissed. Her body felt like it was on fire just remembering it. 

Yang had seemed just as keen as Blake had been. Blake had known for a little while she’d liked Yang as more than just a friend but wasn’t certain about exactly how Yang felt. She couldn’t deny they’d had chemistry for as long as they’d known each other, it had just been hard to navigate on account of Blake being a cat. And now…

She looked over at Yang and felt something else entirely. She was giddy about kissing Yang, sure, but Yang was currently a giant dragon. Looking closer, Blake saw she didn’t even have lips, just scales and several rows of very sharp teeth, each of which were the size of Blake’s hand. Trying to kiss Yang right now might end up with half of her face being bitten off. 

She met Yang’s eyes. She wished more than anything Yang could speak right now. Blake had no way of knowing what Yang was thinking or what she wanted.

Blake turned to Qrow. “So, a kiss from her true love will turn her back to normal?” 

“That’s right.” 

Blake looked back at Yang, who had extended a claw in front of her, dragging it across the dirt. She looked sheepish, like she wanted to shrink away from everyone’s gaze. Her eyes darted between what she was doing and Blake. If dragons could blush, Blake had a feeling that’s what she’d be doing. 

Yang’s arm settled back against her and she rumbled, looking right at Blake. Blake looked down at the ground she’d been poking at. Clumsily drawn in the dirt in front of Yang was a heart. 

Blake smiled for a second, feeling butterflies all over again. She closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath, steeling herself. “Okay. Alright, just… don’t bite me.” 

She stepped forward slowly and very nervously. Yang’s head alone was about as tall as Blake. She put one hand on the side of Yang’s face, mostly to steady herself. She looked at Yang’s mouth, which she’d thankfully closed to hide the fangs. The rows of thinner scales almost looked like lips. Kissing where they met would probably be enough to satisfy the requirements of the curse. 

_That is, _she thought, _if I happen to be her true love._ There was a chance it might not be Blake, and this could fail. She couldn’t imagine what they’d have to do if this didn’t work. It’s not like she could put dragon Yang on a dating site and invite people to come and kiss her dragon mouth. 

Blake inched closer, leaning in towards Yang’s face. She felt more awkward than she had, probably ever, as four of her friends plus one random drunk dude watched her about to try kiss a dragon. _What is my life? _

She held the sides of Yang’s giant, scaled face as best she could, getting closer and closer. This was not at all how she’d pictured their first kiss (and she had pictured it, extensively). She wished this could have all gone more smoothly, that she could kiss the real Yang instead of big pointy dragon Yang. 

Nonetheless, this was what she had to do to alleviate the curse. Her nose touched cold, rough scales. She held her breath. She leaned her chin forward-

And pulled back suddenly as Qrow burst out laughing, the tension snapped, ripping her out of the moment. Blake’s head whipped around to face him. He had his hands on his knees, head dipped, wheezing. 

“What? What’s funny?” _ Aside from the concept of kissing a dragon, _Blake thought, but she was expecting an explanation, nonetheless. 

“Kissing the dragon won’t do anything.” Qrow straightened up, wiping a tear from under his eye. “I was just messing with ya. Forgive me, I don’t get to pull crazy shit like this often.” 

Blake felt herself turn bright red, a mix of anger and embarrassment swirling within her. She felt like she could punch him, and she probably would have if she didn’t suspect that he really did know how to break the curse. 

“Well then.” Blake spoke through gritted teeth. “How do we _really_ fix this?” 

“A simple elixir. We can brew it up right now, actually. Hold still, both of you.” He stood and pulled two metal shot glasses from inside his coat. He sat them on the rock he had been sitting on, half filling them with whatever was in his flask. He strode over to Blake and plucked a hair from one of her cat ears, then over to Yang and plucked a small scale from beside a claw, which she was not too pleased about. 

He dropped the cat hair in one glass and the scale in the other, picking them up and swirling them gently before passing the one with cat hair in it to Blake. He stood in front of Yang’s mouth with the other. “Open up, and down the hatch.” Yang opened her maw and Qrow flicked the liquid inside. She reared her head to swallow, pulling an odd face as the scale went down. Blake followed suit, knocking the glass back and screwing up her face as she felt the hair slide down the back of her throat alongside what smelled and tasted like gasoline. 

The effect was immediate. Blake felt the ears atop her head tingle furiously, like pins and needles on steroids. Then, as quick as she had felt it, the feeling was gone. She reached up and touched her head – the ears were gone. 

Yang’s change was much more dramatic. Her body shrunk in all dimensions, scales morphing back into skin, tail and wings and horns disappearing entirely. There was no glamorous, fairy tale shimmering effect or anything of the sort to mask the visual impact of the change. Yang’s body was straight-up moulding itself back to normal, and it was not pretty. 

Within only a few very disturbing moments, a human Yang sat before them, buck naked in the dirt. Blake took off her jacket and offered it to her quickly, but Yang barely registered the offer as she stood and stormed towards Qrow. 

Qrow’s demeanour changed as soon as he saw human Yang, face dropping and hands raising as if he were surrendering. 

“Uh, hey, kiddo-”

He was cut off by a swift punch to the gut. He bent over slightly, clearly pretty tough but still affected by Yang’s attack.

“You deserve that for tormenting us.” She let him straighten up a bit before embracing him in a familiar hug. “You also deserve that, for actually helping.” 

“Thanks.” Qrow groaned. “But, would you mind hugging me with clothes on?”

“Oh. Right.” Yang let go of Qrow and took the jacket from Blake, which barely went past the waist. They really should have accounted for this possibility before coming. 

“You two know each other?” Blake was certain this familiarity with one another didn’t come from just this odd encounter. 

“Yeah, this is my uncle Qrow.” Yang turned to look back at Qrow. “How did you know how to fix this, anyway?” 

Qrow shrugged. “I know a lot about world history. And, let’s just say I’ve got my own interesting past.” 

Yang seemed to find that an acceptable answer, wrapping her arms around him again. “Cool. Let’s go home, I’m super cold out here.” 

The three started walking back down the track. Neptune, Sun, Ilia, and Velvet looked at each other quizzically before following a few steps behind, Sun rubbing the back of his head. “What the shit did we just witness?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake deals with the fallout of Yang being a human. A human that she's super into. Emotions are had.

Fortunately for Yang, Blake found a spare change of clothes in her car – a basic white shirt and a pair of black jeans. Even more fortunately, they fit just fine, if not a little tight around the chest and thighs. She kept Blake’s jacket on, too, which Blake had no complaints about. 

Blake escorted Yang home, driving her back to Yang’s apartment in her car. _This is possibly the safest form of transport we’ve ever taken together, _ Blake thought, reflecting on the rides on Bumblebee and dragon Yang’s back. 

Though the trip was free of physical hazards, Blake felt anything but calm. They’d had their tense encounter the night they were both human, and now they’d almost kissed while Yang was a dragon. They’d almost kissed under the guise that it would be true love’s kiss. _And it wasn’t just my idea. _Blake recalled the heart Yang had drawn in the dirt with her claw. _She wanted to try it, too. _

Their conversation was limited to a few topics on the ride home. Mostly, Yang’s reflections and observations on her time spent as a dragon. She had a long list of complaints; the ground was really hard, outside was really cold, scales make it impossible to scratch yourself satisfyingly, claws and eyes don’t mix well, she was currently having a phantom limb situation with her lack of wings.

Blake listened intently, half because she was genuinely very interested in Yang’s experience and half because focussing on Yang’s complaints made it easier to not dwell on the feelings that were returning in full force. The distance between them was too wide and too small, the sound of Yang’s voice pulling her in and setting her nerves on edge. Blake knew exactly what she wanted and she’d been bold before, but she hadn’t had a clear green light from Yang until now. The image of the heart in the dirt was etched into Blake’s mind, a glowing neon sign cutting through her uncertainty. _Yes, _it read, _kiss me. _

Blake’s grip on the wheel tightened and she noted with excitement and dread that they’d reached Yang’s apartment, Blake pulling the car into a visitor’s park and killing the engine. She got out of the car on instinct, feeling the pull towards Yang’s apartment. With Yang beside her, it felt like coming home. 

Yang got out too and didn’t complain about Blake following her up the stairs. They’d stopped talking for the moment. Blake had Yang’s keys and handed them over as they reached the door, Yang unlocking it and swinging it open with surprising dexterity despite having been in a totally different body less than an hour ago. 

Yang held the door open for Blake, wordlessly ushering her inside. Blake entered, turning and seeing Yang click the door shut behind them. Yang didn’t move from the doorway, opting instead to lean her back against the door and face Blake. They were only a few feet apart. Blake’s heart was racing even though nothing had even happened. 

“Welcome home.” Blake half smiled, trying to ease her own nerves. It didn’t work. 

Yang half smiled back, fiddling with her hands. “It’s good to be back. In more ways than one.” She gestured to herself and laughed a little, voice shaky. “Thank you, by the way. You did a lot to get me back to normal.” 

Blake sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. “But it’s my fault you ended up like this in the first place. If I hadn’t-”

“If you hadn’t got me involved you all would have been stuck in the vault.” Yang interrupted. “Not to brag, but the ambush in the vault would have screwed everyone over if I wasn’t there, or if I happened to turn into something other than a huge-ass dragon.” Yang took a half step towards Blake. “I chose to come along with you. I chose to grab the artefact, and I knew the consequences. None of that was your fault.” She stepped even closer, into Blake’s space. Blake’s heart jumped. “We’re all fine now. That’s what matters.” 

“But you didn’t have to do any of that.”

“No, I didn’t have to. I did it because I wanted to.” They stepped even closer, Yang wrapping her arms around Blake’s waist, Blake’s hands reaching up to rest on Yang’s shoulders. Touching her felt instinctual. It felt comforting. 

“Because you wanted to save the day?” Blake teased, a genuine smile crossing her face. She was so close to Yang, and still so nervous, but everything about this felt so right. 

“Because I didn’t want our time together to end.” Yang leaned her head down slightly, her voice low. “I still don’t.” Blake felt her breathing get quicker, shallower. Her eyes darted down to her hands on Yang. Yang was breathing faster, too, her chest rising and falling quickly, hot breaths tickling Blake’s cheeks. 

Blake looked back up, the warmth and strength she’d missed in Yang’s eyes filling her heart. She’d never known it was empty before this sunny little dragon had barrelled into her life. She’d never known everything she had ever wanted could have been this, this girl made of sunshine and smiles and hope, that someone could just fall into her life as it turned upside down, pick her back up and hold her close like this and that she’d feel thankful for all of it. 

“It doesn’t have to.” Blake felt her eyes drifting closed as she leaned up, Yang moving with her. Their noses touched and Blake felt Yang’s breath hot on her lips, painfully close. Blake tilted her head slightly, her hands reaching up, dancing across Yang’s jaw before tangling softly in her hair. Yang’s grip on Blake’s waist tightened, pulling Blake even closer, one hand drifting up her back. Yang’s head tilted, too, almost no space between their lips as they held each other, breathing haphazard, hands slightly shaking. 

Blake’s lips parted, her voice almost a whisper. “I’m not going anywhere.” She let her eyes close fully as she closed the space between them, holding her breath as their lips finally met. And like that, all their hesitation fell away, the nerves and the shakes and the uncertainty making way for what they’d been wanting to show each other all along.

Blake melted into Yang’s arms, letting herself hold and be held, their lips brushing against each other again and again. Kissing Yang was everything Blake had imagined, her lips soft and pliant, her approach enthusiastic and passionate, her taste like fruit and honey. She felt her hands grip Yang tighter. She thought of the golden dragon descending from the sky, the clouds parting before it. She thought of lilacs, of springtime, sitting in the grass, the smell of the earth. She thought of the warmth that follows the sunrise, the light piercing the dark, the golden glow of a new day, a new beginning. 

_That’s what this is, _Blake thought, as Yang shifted her arms underneath Blake and lifted her up, Blake’s legs wrapping around her waist, their lips never parting as Yang carried her to the couch. _Our beginning. _

*

“Ruby!?”

“Surprise!” The little red bundle of energy bounded into the apartment, tightly hugging Yang as she did so. Blake, who was reclined on the couch, entered panic mode immediately. “I was in town to see Penny and thought I’d stop by for a surprise sister party!”

“Oh, cool. But, uh, this might not be a great time-” Yang tried, but Ruby cut her off.

“The kitty! Where’s the kitty?” Ruby whirled around to see Blake sitting on the couch in the exact position she’d expected to find the cat. “Oh, hi! Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Are you one of Yang’s friends?” 

Blake had no idea what to say. She opted for nothing, instead sitting up a bit straighter. She made strong eye contact with Yang whose face spoke volumes. They were thinking the exact same thing; _shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit. _

“Uh, Ruby, this is my girlfriend.”

“You have a _girlfriend? _And you _didn’t tell me!?” _

“Yeah, well, it’s been an interesting few weeks.” 

Ruby seemed to ignore that last remark, rounding the couch and standing beside Blake. “Hey, nice to meet you! I’m Yang’s sister, Ruby.” 

This was the part where Blake would introduce herself back, but she had no idea how to go about doing that. Did she lie about her name and just have Yang’s family know her as someone else? Did she use her real name and hope Ruby wouldn’t ask any questions? Did she fake a heart attack to get out of this situation so her and Yang could properly prepare an action plan? 

“Um… what’s your name?” Ruby asked, reminding Blake that she had paused for a weirdly long amount of time and hadn’t replied. 

Yang beat Blake to it. “Her name is Blake.” 

“Oh, that’s the same name as your cat! That’s funny!”

“Yeah, it’s hilarious.” Yang deadpanned.

Ruby scanned the room. “Where is kitty Blake?” 

Yang sighed, walking over to join them, putting her hands on Ruby’s shoulders and urging her to sit. “Uh, well… You might want to sit down for this one, Rubes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a wee little epilogue, putting a bow on it and FINALLY having them kiss. They're both useless. Thanks for reading!


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